The Sky is No Limit
by Person With Many Aliases
Summary: A Pilot. A Spy. An Heiress. A Commando. A Sister. A Terrorist. Amid all this, a boy not quite out of his depth. It's 2018: Welcome to the silicon renaissance. The world's about to change, one nation at a time. AU.
1. CONVENTION

"Infinite Stratos" series property of author Izuru Yumizuru

Original Characters or Concepts property of author "Person With Many Aliases"

(An Alternate Universe. Liberties will be taken.)

* * *

_2012 had turned out to be a convenient year to end the world after all._

_He could remember the crowded streets, the orderly, but packed evacuation that lined every walkway, people walking, people running, people trying to escape to the shelters._

_In a few hours, the missiles of the world would land in Japan, and everything he ever knew would be reduced to irradiated dust._

_At his age, it was difficult to comprehend the breadth of this destruction, but even then, seated in the back of the van, he could look out the window, watching the people rush, hear the air fill with frenzied car horns and local police and soldiers trying to maintain order. He could understand the immediacy of the fear, and know that everyone he could see was in danger, himself, his friend..._

_The family of his friend._

_"Ichika, you haven't heard from Chifuyu or my sister yet?"_

_He rode in the same van with Houki and her family. Her parents debated and conferred in the front, speaking about complicated things that a nine year old boy and a girl wouldn't understand well. All they could do was sit amongst the quickly packed survival necessities in the back, and wonder where their siblings were, their siblings that had to just be unaccounted for at a time where the world was about to end. His sibling? Chifuyu was essentially his only family. His parents... Chifuyu refused to speak about them._

_"They're not answering their cellphones... where are they...?" He muttered, exiting the inbox option of his own phone._

_"You think we'll find them later...?" Houki muttered from under her long bangs. Far as Ichika remembered, she always tried her hardest to put up a strong front, but in this moment, they were just two kids caught up in the wave of events far beyond their control. Ichika knew Houki probably was worried and scared out of her head, no matter how nonchalantly she tried to pass off her question. It wasn't just how he noticed the subtle trembling of her body, or the way she was trying to pass off her shrinking her body inwards as folding her arms._

_Ichika only knew she was scared because in this situation, he was scared himself._

_Even if he was afraid, the only way he could speak was a faithfully blind optimism, "D-Don't worry! We'll find them at the shelter, I'm sure! Everything will be okay!"_

_At that moment, the world ended, but not by fire or by ice, but by thunder and radio._

_The roar of simultaneous explosions echoed in the horizon. Houki's parents turned up the volume of the news report._

_"Amazing", the voice said, "Some sort of white light dancing around the hurtling long range missiles like they were toys, making them explode."_

_In an hour, something saved Japan._

_With bombs no longer falling over their heads, Ichika restlessly pulled himself halfway out of the van's sliding window, letting himself sit on the sill as he stared at the sky._

_The streets were filled with wild cheering as radios continued to confirm that a miracle occurred, though it would only be later discovered it was a miracle of science._

_These were of course, words too large for a child. He was staring at the sky, and realized a white blur was soaring above him. It was impossible to see what it was, but he wanted to imagine it was what stopped the missiles. Perhaps it was even a person, a lone hero that made history._

_The white speck turned away, and assumed a course out of his sight._

_He wanted to be able to change the world, as well..._

* * *

**1: CONVENTION**

* * *

Six years later, though, Orimura Ichika had to begrudgingly accept maybe that wasn't going to happen.

What _was _happening was that his friend was trying to kill him.

"Would you stop messing up your tie! ?"

"I can't breathe in this, Rin." Ichika complained, pulling at blue silk on his neck. He wouldn't be fooled by the expensive cloth. As far as he was concerned, a noose was a noose, and here his friend was betray-

"Gaghk!" The boy, now a teenager, gave a great exaggerated cry of choking to death as a diminutive girl in a Chinese Officer's dress uniform closed the tie up properly for the umpteenth time.

"Stop being such a baby, Ichika, or I'll kick you out and find a more obedient guest!" She snorted, brushing straight the suit he was wearing.

He raised his arms in mock surrender, "Yes, Huang Lingyin, my Chinese overlord, I surrender."

"Good boy. If you keep this up until we leave, I might even throw in a bone for you, Ichika." Rin smirked, petting her taller friend's head.

"Right, right..." Came the final defeated sigh, before Ichika turned to look out the window at the Yokohama night sky. He and Rin were seated in the middle of a fairly impressive convoy of vehicles that had just taken a ramp off the highway and was now moving towards the Pacifico Yokohama. The waterside convention center still managed looked rather modern after all these years.

Rin picked up on the silence, "Whatcha thinking about now?"

"Just thinking how much things changed in six years... since the White Knight Incident."

"...Ah."

She couldn't fault him. She may have saw him as Ichika, but as far as the world was concerned he was _Orimura_ Ichika, and he couldn't escape that.

Six years since a technological miracle saved Japan. Then a genius claimed responsibility for the creation of the weapon used. Infinite Stratos, or an "I.S.". A genius hands out the basic operating blueprints for a veritable super weapon, hands out 467 Cores, that no one can pry into, and disappears, almost mocking the world with a Gordian Knot that holds the doors of the future shut. 467 cores snapped up by the world's militaries and corporations.

467 cores that won't respond to male users. Some angry mutters at the inconvenience, and now female pilots are being trained by the air forces of each respective country, given their own special treatment. Extraordinary weapons now fielded and flown by veritable superstars.

Though the cores have yet to be successfully studied, the technology of the IS was ground breaking enough in itself. Passive Inertia Cancelling. Hyper Sensors. Advanced computing. Hologram technology. Particle weapons.

467 cores, one original blueprint, and six years later, the world was in its silicon renaissance.

But no matter how much the technology advances, it all comes back to the Infinite Stratos, the new jealously guarded and openly flaunted. No matter how much radical new technology can be indebted to it, and how much popular sensationalism could be attributed to their photogenic, beautiful new pilots, the IS were just a new angle for which world politics bark and bray.

Which brought things to Yokohama, now. Another year meant another annual Global Advanced Air Show, which naturally meant every country showing off and scrutinizing each other's Infinite Stratos. This time, the Chinese had a new IS worth showing off, with it, the newest pilot. Of course, the new pilot was allowed to invite one other person...

Ichika sighed again. Life was so troublesome.

"You're moaning and groaning again, Ichika." His friend testily noted, "You can't possibly still be thinking about how 'the world has changed'."

"No. Just how I could have spent tonight deciding where to go for high school."

Rin barely avoided laughing out loud at that one.

"Pph, are you kidding? You're invited to one of the coolest events of the year by your best friend for one night and you're worried about the most boring, all year one?"

"Well..." Ichika drawled, landing one hand heavily on Rin's head and giving it a patronizing rub, "Unlike my best friend who's going to leave to become world famous and have these social events all the time, I gotta worry about my future as an ordinary human being."

"...Ichika."

"Hm?"

"You're... you're not upset, are you?"

That surprisingly quiet question brought Ichika out of his reverie, "Upset? What are you talking about?"

"It's just, you know. I'll be going back to China once we show off the _Shenlong_. Things have been really messed up after my folks split up... I'm going to be an IS pilot, but you're going to be stuck here, alone. I just wanted to make sure we had one last good memory together."

"...That's surprisingly thoughtful of you."

"Are you saying I'm usually _not?_"

Ichika raised his hands defensively, "Of course not! Do you have to be so defensive?"

"Hmph." The Chinese girl folded her arms.

"Don't worry, Rin. We'll always be friends. We don't need to make flashy memories to remember that."

That (inexplicably) managed to bring a blush to her face, "R-Really?"

"...Besides, I go to big shows like these in Chifuyu-nee's absence all the time. This is probably my third party this year."

"... You were just waiting to say that, weren't you."

Ichika managed to keep a completely still face for five seconds. Then he choked back a laugh.

"Ichika, you ass! I'm going to stretch that face of yours!"

"Ah! I'm sorry!"

But the tension already broke as two old friends wrestled in the back of the car, smiling and laughing as always.

Within a few more minutes, the convoy containing the ostensibly Chinese delegation stopped at the front entrance of convention center. Among many other guests that exited the line of cars, Ichika, nice suit, blue noose and all, joined them. He turned around to look at Rin, who remained in the car. Her head emerged from the opening window, with her two tails of brown hair brushing the bottom sill.

"I'm part of the show, so I'm going in through the back with the rest of the stuff. Just go where the party is and... do whatever it is they do there until they introduce me. Hey, you want me to do anything once I get into the air?"

Ichika waved off Rin's mischievous grin, "I don't want you to get into trouble for my sake. Just do what you need to, and don't do anything like buzzing the audience."

"What! ? That's a brilliant idea!"

"Rin..."

"Fine, I'll jump through the hoops like my bosses want me to." Rin said, rolling her eyes, "You go stuff your face at the party. Remember! We're going to have a better send off than your so-called 'Childhood Friend Number One', ever did!"

"Right, right..."

Rin ducked back into the car, which promptly drove past Ichika, along with the great train of vehicles of the delegation. As they passed, the boy noted that one closer to the back was a large flatbed truck, with something large misshapen upon it, covered in tarp and tied down in rope. The procession disappeared around the corner, turning down a ramp into the loading bays of the convention center.

"Well, of course. It's not like they'd let Rin run around with an IS wrapped around her wrist..." Ichika murmured to himself.

He tried to ignore the last of Rin's passing comments, but it stung a part of him that had he did his best to keep buried. She had meant it as an inside joke for the two of them, but she didn't realize the sort of sour memories it brought up.

_Childhood Friend Number One._

Houki...

His friend who had disappeared off the face of the planet, six years ago, with not even a chance to say goodbye. One day she was there, and the next, it was like she had been erased from existence. Her connection to her older sister apparently meant it was necessary to "protect" her at all costs, Chifuyu-nee had said. All it left to Ichika was a loose end that had bothered him in his quietest moments. Where was she now...

Then something else caught up to his attention.

"...Wait, 'stuff my face'? Is that what she thinks of me?"

* * *

The elevator chimed and promptly ejected the teenager into a large atrium that had been turned into a party. Half of the atrium had been converted to a sort of makeshift restaurant, with tables, seats, and a floor mounted hologram set up to slideshow whatever achievements were being shown off this year. At this point though, the guests were still mulling about and talking amongst themselves on the other side, where they stood about smaller tables with display cases and smaller digital displays.

Ichika took one long look and sighed. It was the usual pretentions. Men and women in their expensive clothing, filling the air with loud nonsense amidst the clinking and clacking of champagne glasses and plates of hors d'oeuvres, doing very adult things like gossiping, rumor mongering, and politicking through thin veils. The crowd before him represented the consortium built around the Infinite Stratos, made of men and women from all over the world. The military, the governmental, the intellectual, the corporate, and sadly, Orimura Ichika was part of this rabble by implication of presence.

"Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo, I do believe it's true..." Ichika muttered quietly.

Rin was right. He would pretty much stuff his face, considering it would be more productive that getting caught up with these folk.

Ichika danced around the crowds, making his way to several sadly neglected tables full of snacks, stray bits of conversation passing him by.

_"The Dunois are here, too... He got some kid with him..."_

_"The Chinese are pretty proud of their third generation machine, but it's pointless if they can't even reach limited production..."_

There were a lot of useless cracker-type snacks, and salad, which he could care less about. On the other hand, there was a whole dish full of crab croquettes, which nobody seemed to be touching. Ichika helped himself to what the small desert plate could support.

_"America should do the smart thing and decommission the Silver Gospel. The Mid-East countries are practically frothing at the mouth that Israel was involved in its development. You can't call a weapon a deterrent if it's going to cause more conflicts than it prevents..."_

_"If the IS could be piloted by men, we could integrate IS R&D into the military structure better. Right now we have to deal with fraternization, training fresh recruits, handling logistics and construction for female personnel... we have to pay for two of everything..."_

Plate full with what would probably be his dinner for the night (then again, it was probably better than his hundredth cup of instant noodles), Ichika very intentionally moved to the edge of the rabble, where things would at least be a little quieter.

_"That missing prototype hasn't turned up yet? ...You're just being biased against the North Koreans. If they had really stolen it, it'd have been paraded up and down the moment they got their hands on it, but it's been gone for almost two years now-"_

"Mr. Ichika Orimura, I presume?" A soft velvet voice suddenly cut through the noise and addressed Ichika very directly. The boy in question fought back a sigh and turned around. Probably some bigwig who wanted to know where his sister was-

Wow.

Ichika found himself face to face with a blonde girl his age. Well, he guessed she was his age, given she was around his height. Unlike Ichika, though, who still felt the get up he was in made him feel like a clown, the blonde was wearing a slinky deep blue evening gown that daringly hugged her figure, like she was made for it. Light ringlets curled the tips of her hair and a white laced blue band of cloth framed the top of her head. With a coy smirk, a pair of folded, gloved arms, and a hand holding a thin glass of champagne, the blonde seemed a more natural fit with all the older guests at the convention than he did.

Ichika hoped his jaw hadn't dropped open, "I... I, uh... have we met before?"

She gave a ridiculously dainty giggle, covering one mouth with her free hand, eye glinting, "Of all the lines you start with, you open with that cliché old pick up?"

"What...! ? No! Of course not, I didn't mean it that way..."

The woman laughed again, and the boy realized she had a British accent, "Never fear. We've never met before. My name is Cecilia Alcott."

The back of her hand was proffered to Ichika, who somewhat awkwardly took it and turned it into a handshake, unsure otherwise of what to do.

"And you know me, obviously. I'm guessing you're rather looking for my sister?"

"Oh, there's no need for that. I'm quite aware that Ms. Orimura won't be attending, nor is she the type to want to. I'm rather interested in the brother."

Aforementioned brother swallowed, "You are? But I'm nobody, really, I just make sure she's represented here. Can't have the people here say things behind her back..."

"You really do undersell yourself, Mr. Orimura. You may not make as large a splash in the circles here, but if I recall, just last month you wrote a rather detailed rebuttal to a certain researcher's claims on his blog...?"

"You read that?" Ichika tried to laugh that off, scratching the back of his head nervously, "He just had a few facts wrong, and I wanted to correct him before he messed up..."

"_Everybody_ read that, Mr. Orimura. Not anybody can light a fire strong enough to make a development group release a formal apology."

"I'm sure I didn't have anything to do with that, really..."

"Hmm..."

The amused look on Cecilia's face showed she was obviously unconvinced. Ichika was worried he'd end up believing the same. He looked for another avenue of conversation.

"So, uh, what brings you to this show? It's not really a place for people our age..."

"The Alcott estate represents a number of England's interests in technological fields, so it's natural the head of the family personally appear for these functions."

"'Head of the Family'...?" Ichika had to cock an eyebrow at that. Cecilia could fit into a party, no doubt, but if she was implying she was...

"I know what you're thinking, Mr. Orimura, but I assure you... well... an extenuating circumstance here and there, a few deals cut, and even someone my age can be given large responsibilities." She failed to explain, brushing one of her curling bangs for effect. Ichika digested the sentence for a second before deciding to answer.

"That must be-"

"But enough about me, Mr. Orimura, for we are hardly alone. There are plenty of other young guests at this establishment!" Cecilia waved an arm at the crowd of middle aged and plus crowds before them.

"That's really convincing." Ichika couldn't help but jab at his conversation partner, before quickly jamming one of his croquettes into his mouth and chewed it as quick as he could before the British girl started speaking back. Dinner wasn't going to wait for him.

"You merely aren't looking in the right places, though I forgive you for not being a socialite like I."

"Hm."

"No doubt you heard that Sir Dunois' daughter is attending. The Americans sent a military delegation, including Lieutenant Natasha Fairs-"

A loud crash of glass and ceramic echoed behind them, snapping the pair's attention behind them. There were two girls their age, as Cecilia had in fact claimed. They both had blue hair, though one was in a black dress and the other in white. Though what caught Ichika's attention was the broken mish mash of food and plate at their feet, and the fact the girl in white and shorter hair was rubbing her cheek from where she was struck, while the one in black and with hair accessories was on the verge of sobbing.

"I had enough of this, Tatenashi!" The black girl hissed before storming off.

"Kanzashi, wait-"

"Don't talk to me!"

The duo pursued each other until they disappeared from Ichika's sight. Cecilia hummed, wickedly amused.

"Those were Russia's test pilots for their IS program, I'm guessing..."

"Hm." Ichika had moved onto a second croquette, trying to keep himself out of the picture, though a part of him questioned how two Japanese girls were part of Russia's program, if Alcott was correct.

"Oh, and I do believe that's the _Schwarzer Hase_'s field commander over there..."

"Hrghhlgk! ?"

That was the sound of Ichika choking on the crab meat when he swallowed too early. Gulping down the rough breaded exterior with some tears and effort, he blurted to Cecilia, "What! Bodewig's here?"

Cecilia pointed in one direction. He was stupid enough to follow it.

At the other end of the crowds, he could see a girl with silver hair and a pitch black uniform, baggy pants, and high boots. She had turned and for a moment had an expression of shock as she looked back at Ichika through the crowds with her lone red eye.

The shock turned into a bitterly dark glare, seemed to dismiss herself from whatever conversation she was having earlier and was _stomping _over.

Ichika swirled around, hands slamming onto the edge of the table behind him, and frantically hoped to find a solution at the bottom of a salad bowl he was leaning over, "Crap! Crap, she saw me...!"

"Oh, General Woundwort herself has an enmity with her mentor's younger brother? I didn't expect this..." The British girl cooed.

"Cecilia! Can't you do something? Catch her attention so I can get away?" Ichika desperately whispered over to her. He could almost feel Laura Bodewig's single death eyeball cutting a groove in the ground behind him and up his back, oh so slowly.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Orimura, but by myself it'd be too obvious, and she wouldn't go for it. The minimum number for a crowd is three. You'd need one more person to dissuade Ms. Bodewig from approaching." Cecilia shrugged, like she were helpless. It was clear she was enjoying herself too much, though.

"Crap! Craaap...!" The boy was on the verge of sweating bullets out.

Then, out of nowhere, another girl's voice suddenly cried out in his direction.

"Ah! Tetsuo! There You Are! Ha ha!"

"Huh?" Was Ichika's reaction.

"...What?" Was Cecilia's.

They turned around just in time to see another girl in a yellow gown quickly pacing up to them. She had a forced smile on her face and her lavender eyes carried an intense desperation from under her loose hair of darker blonde. She barged past Cecilia and wrapped herself around Ichika's arm.

"Aren't you...?" Cecilia began to ask, frowning.

The new interloper pointedly ignored her as she exclaimed loudly, "Tetsuo! It's been such a long time! Remember me? Charlotte?"

'Tetsuo' was still reeling in obvious confusion, "Tetsu... Char... who the-?"

The girl reached up for a moment to hiss into his ear, _"Just play along! Please!"_

By then Ichika, who was supposed to be Tetsuo (Tetsuo! ? What was a Tetsuo supposed to act like?), noticed a number of men that came trailing after 'Charlotte', all seemingly intent to pick continue some conversation with her.

"Miss Charlotte, wait-"

"Miss Dunois-"

_Huh, so her name really is Charlotte._

Before Ichika could follow that line of thought, he was thrown to the proverbial wolves as he was swung into their line of sight. There was a horrifying second where he felt a series of sharp objects being hurled via their eyes.

"I'm sorry gentlemen, but Tetsuo's such an old friend of mine when he was in my school before he transferred out! Imagine the odds of meeting him again! Ha! Ha ha...!"

Ichika couldn't help but note that that was the worst laugh he ever heard attempted.

One of the men in the group dogging Charlotte squinted skeptically, "Wait, didn't he come with-"

"Well-I-gotta-go-reminisce-on-old-times-with-him-bye!" The lady in yellow interrupted without a second's delay before charging away from the group, dragging her Tetsuo away by the arm, perhaps with a bit more force than necessary. The boy gave a quick "Hrk!" as he head whipped to one side as he was dragged off.

"Hm, she's not bad..." Cecilia smiled to herself as sipped from her champagne. As the crowd of men broke up, seemingly dejected, they gave way for a black clad German, who followed the escaping duo with a critical eye as she stopped by the remaining woman. At this proximity, the Alcott head could see the intricate eyepatch that sat on Laura Bodewig's face, with all the fine hinges and subtle sensors that sat on its surface.

"Orimura seems to find himself interesting company." Laura managed to _neutrally_ snort over her shoulder at Cecilia.

"Oh, is this praise coming from Germany's ace?" Alcott tittered from behind her glass.

"The Dunois brat aside, I'd make sure my mentor doesn't hear that her brother was in speaking distance of Cecilia Alcott." Laura turned her unamused look on the girl in blue, "Your career isn't as vague as you'd like to think it is. I could care less about him, but if anything you two do reflects on the Instructor, you'll be hearing from me again."

"Blunt directness is a virtue of German efficiency, no doubt. I'll take your words under advisement."

"Good."

Cecilia reached beside her and stretched a plate over to Laura, "Would you like a crab croquette? Those high-minded intellectuals over there have been leaving the poor dish alone in favor of yet _more_ liver from birds."

"I have no interest in accepting a gift from someone of the-"

"I believe Mr. Orimura had hoped these would be his dinner." She sweetly added.

The British woman could swear she could see the skin under Laura's eyepatch twitch as she stared at the dish.

"...This is beneath me. I know this is petty, but..." She ground out quietly, before she darted out and stuffed one into her mouth.

"Oh, don't worry, _frau_ Bodewig. We're women in an IS convention, if we're allowed to have anything, it's our petty little vices." Cecilia smiled, before her napkin covered hand plucked up one of the crab croquettes too. She made a satisfied noise as she bit in.

* * *

The atrium had a doorway that lead to an outdoor balcony that overlooked a large open park that sat between the shoreline in the distance, and the side of the building that faced it. Party as it was, there were still yet more people speaking into the warm air.

Along one high balcony, one Charlotte Dunois took a large, unladylike sigh as she rested her chin upon it, arms draped over the other side. She turned to her abductee.

"Thanks for sticking with me, and sorry for dragging you away from that girl you were chatting up." She weakly grinned.

Ichika shrugged, "I don't even really know her, anyways. Who were those guys?"

The girl in yellow sighed, "Friends of the family, young boys, suitors, potential allies. The pawns of politics, pretty much, myself included. They're really bad at flirting. I was going to go crazy if I had to stand in the middle of them for another hour."

One word caught Ichika's attention, "Politics? So you mean...?"

She straightened herself up, "My father is Jean-Benoit Dunois, head of Dunois Designs. I'm his youngest daughter, Charlotte. Nice to meet you."

"Ichika Orimura."

This time, it was a proper, intentional handshake. Ichika felt it was solid and honest and felt himself easing up as she continued speaking.

"I don't really have much to offer to the 'empire' as it were, so at most, Sir Dunois is hoping I can at least hit it off with one of his corporate allies, the younger the better. So he throws rich, noble boys at me all the time, like tonight."

"...That's not right." Ichika blurted that out on pure instinct before he caught the last word that escaped, "Uh... er..."

Charlotte's face flushed from embarrassment as she waved a defense for her family, "It's not like they're all just... well, I mean, back home, I'm actually very popular anyways, so they come anyways, so I just end up having all these silly boys all the time... I'm putting you on the spot, aren't I?"

"Eheh, it's alright..." Ichika laughed, "So you came to this show just because of your Dad?"

"Well, no. I actually have some interest in Infinite Stratos, and I wanted to see a new one up close. Of course, Jean didn't exactly want to turn it into a family outing, so we ended up compromising. I could go..."

"And he would throw together some more wannabe boyfriends at you?" Ichika dryly surmised.

"And then I abducted you." Charlotte weakly finished.

There was some lame laughter. It really wasn't that funny. Ichika's new friend (?) tried to change the subject, murmuring over something.

"Orimura... Orimura... Isn't that the name of that IS instructor...? The one who tutors all the IS pilots across the world?"

Ichika nodded, knowing how the next few lines would go, but humored her, "Chifuyu Orimura, yeah. She's my older sister."

There would be a dead silent for a second as Charlotte, in this case, boggled at the growing realization of the man standing in front of her, and then:

"You're Chifuyu's brother! ?"

"Yeah."

"Chifuyu has a brother...! Well, I mean, where..."

"Last I heard, she's somewhere, up north. She's looking at the local pilots, but she didn't tell me where exactly."

"Wow! I mean... what's it like...?"

"Charlotte, I promise it's actually not that amazing. It's mostly me getting her mail, picking up calls at home from people thinking she's actually there and not halfway around the world, and... going to shows like these all the time. It gets old fast."

"So you're here for more of the same?"

"Noooot exactly... It's a little different this time." Ichika slid that admission out uneasily. He wasn't sure whether it was a good thing to say he was a personal friend of the pilot, "But the exception proves the norm. Most of the time, invitations get sent for my sister, so the least I can do is go for her."

"The 'least' you could do?" Charlotte asked. She felt something a little off about the way he phrased it. He turned to face the sea.

"Well, you know, my sister always looked out for me. I'm... well... just an average guy, compared to my sister. So I do what I can to at least not make my sister look bad."

"So you decided to represent for her?"

"Yeah. I ended up reading a lot about IS so I wouldn't look like an idiot when somebody at these things decided to try and crucify me in replacement for my sister with complicated questions. I forced myself to read the basic operating guide for an IS, as a start..."

Charlotte winced with him, "I heard those things are the size of a phonebook..."

"They aren't kidding. Infinite Stratos... well, I know the subject like the back of my hand. I keep my reading up."

"Really? Prove it." The French girl challenged jokingly. Ichika shrugged.

"Hm... you know the Alaska Treaty?"

"Sort of. It's the thing where they limited the situations the IS are allowed to be deployed in?"

"Yeah. Did you know that there plans to create an Academy to train IS pilots, here in Japan?"

"Wait, a school? Instead of the military handling it?"

"The American President said that the Japanese government should take responsibility for the creation of the IS, since Shinonono Tabane was their citizen. Foot the bill and everything."

"That's a bit... disproportionate." Charlotte laughed rather nervously at the idea.

"That's why that little idea was quickly dropped... and we have what we have today." Ichika laughed with her, though the tone quickly turned wane and humorless.

There was a silence that existed for the two of them amidst the party, as they looked at the Yokohama skyline across the bay.

"Orimura... what do you think about the Infinite Stratos?"

He gave one deep sigh as he already knew the answer, "It's... bogged down. In the beginning, I thought it was actually sort of cool. Especially after the White Knight incident. You know, a person with the power to save the world, and all that. But between all these functions I keep going to, and overhearing my sister just talk about training exercises so dispassionately, the IS is just... a tool. A thing. It's just another accessory for the military, it's just another thing for companies and governments to scheme over. It's... the Infinite Stratos isn't miraculous or cool. Not anymore."

As if on cue, a voice came over the intercoms about the atrium and the balcony the two were on.

_"May I have your attention please. Tonight's demonstration of CATIC's third generation Infinite Stratos, the Shenlong is about to begin shortly. May all guests please move towards the presentation stage for viewing..."_

As the announcement spoke again in several more languages, Charlotte put in her two cents.

"I guess that's true."

"... I depressed you, didn't I."

"No! It's not your fault! I asked for your opinion after all." The girl in yellow waved more apologies again, "I can't really say anything about this, but... maybe things will get better... I don't think I can hide from Jean-Benoit while the demonstration is going on, so I'll go ahead. I'm sorry. It really was good to meet you, Mr. Ichika. Try to enjoy the party some more."

Charlotte Dunois took her leave to walk back inside, where the people continued to aggregate. Ichika took a minute to start at the lights across the dark of the bay.

Nearly six years. The silicon renaissance, and the grandeur of the Infinite Stratos was now just for show. There was also a part of Ichika that wanted to blame Tabane. Six years of his sister running around the world, instructing other people while he looked after an empty house. Six years and counting of his closest friend live as a non-person who was only alive in his memories as a small girl. Six years later, Huang Lingyin was going to leave Japan and decide to be a pilot.

Always left behind, trapped in these farces, because of the Infinite Stratos.

"Tabane, is this what you wanted?"

Ichika sighed. It wasn't like he was going to have an answer now. As far as he knew, whatever Tabane wanted, she didn't get it, same as him. It's been six years, and only the surface changed, and that was as far as things were going to get.

* * *

Above ground, by several floors, a party for those who thought they knew was ongoing.

Below ground, in a starkly lit, gray and white concrete loading bay, a meeting for those who knew was being carried out.

There were two groups of men, both wearing dark suits, sunglasses, radio earpieces, and guns under their clothes. Standing atop the loading dock, the leaders of each men spoke. Beside one party, a flatbed truck sat parked. Beside the other, on the dock, was something large and misshapen, covered in tarp and tied down.

"I need verification. Snow."

"Heritage."

"Lightning."

"Eleventh Street."

"Tongue."

"Red Car."

The leader of the group listening folded his arms as he listened. At the end, he nodded before walking forward.

"Emoto. Japan Special Forces Group."

"I am Fung. PLA Special Operations Forces."

They shook hands briefly, though their expressions were as stern as ever. Things were of paramount importance. Emoto, jerked his head to the truck, "Do you understand the nature of our deal?"

"Yes. Japan is entrusting the safekeeping of this prototype to our men to transport it through Chinese territory and to keep it hidden until we are contacted by the next link and we make the subsequent trade to them. During the interim period, we will be granted permission to harvest data from it, but not to make a deep analysis."

"Understand this goes above our heads, to the highest levels. If we screw this up, they'll cut us off."

"We will take every precaution necessary."

Emoto nodded. The two men shouted at their men to get moving, and in an instant there was movement. As they stepped back, there seemed to be a decreasing tension. For a moment, two groups of men, involved in a very dangerous game, could take respite that they were playing together for now, and thus were comrades. Japanese and Chinese were at work. One entered the large truck and backed it up towards the dock. Others worked together to push the large cargo towards the transport. Others still kept watch.

Fung took a moment to speak personally, "It was very convenient cover that we were coming in with an Infinite Stratos for this show. Easy to hide large machinery together."

"It is. Thanks for taking this risk."

"I heard rumors about this transport. Do you have clearance to confirm any of them?"

"...If you agree to keep it to yourself."

"There's a lot of loud noise going on right now. No one can confirm anything we say."

"Hm. I'm guessing you heard that the Professor personally requested this cargo."

"Does she really have that sort of contact with our governments? She struck me as the rebellious type."

"It's only circumstantial evidence, but that's what I assume. But it's not like we have a hotline to her either. She speaks with us only when she wants to. But if she's making a personal request to the very governments she's hiding from, I think there's a possibility she's afraid of something."

"Afraid of what, though? The tarp may conceal this..." Fung motioned to the object loaded to the center of the truck, and was being lashed tight, "...but it's obvious it's an Infinite Stratos. What does she want from this one?"

"It's hard to say what exactly. Far as I know, it's a shoddy, broken prototype that's been collecting dust for a few years. But it is... different."

"How?"

Emoto was silent for a moment, before answering, "When set out our deal to restrict you from deeply analyzing it, it's for your own safety. There's been atempts tried to study it before, and it rebuffed all efforts. Sometimes more seriously than others. It can burn out equipment through the same connection. The machine may be inactive, but it's still aware..."

"Temperamental and isolated. Truly, if there was a machine that has the Professor's signature all over it... this machine does have a name, right?" Fung smirked, "It might be listening to us, after all. It'll make the ride more difficult for us if the guest thinks we're rude."

Emoto gave a wolfy grin of his own, "It has a pretty good name, for what it's worth. Translated, it's called White Expressions."

"White Expressions, huh..."

The last rope was tied down. The men saluted.

_Therefore in Japan, it is called..._

_Byakushiki._

* * *

There were things like pre mission jitters. You felt jumpy. The nerves fired. You felt tense as you felt the electricity through your veins. Your mind started going through the what-ifs. You recited the objectives to console yourselves that things would go fine. Then you realize with horror, that you could clearly recall the quote by Helmuth von Motke the Elder: _"No plan survives contact with the enemy"._

For her though, she had passed this stage by years ago. Now, she sat on a cold metal bench, and there were only harsh red lights that provided a modicum of illumination, though it really only meant, dark red and pitch black. All she could feel was the cold air on the other side of the skin tight pilot's suit that stuck to her skin. The comforting drone of prop engines had since disappeared. The largest aircraft now were powered by the same gravity technology the Infinite Stratos possessed, though far bulkier and far less elegant, little more than eco-friendly replacement engines that were powered by intricate and expensive electric battery systems.

So in the darkness, she really only felt one thing: pre mission boredom. She had already counted the number of blue guide lights that ran along the ground, three times even, so she was pretty sure she was right. Eighty Seven to her left, Twenty Nine to her right-

_"KZZZT-Camilla, come in."_

She brought a hand to the earphone she wore, responding to the grainy voice that approached her, "This is Camilla."

_"This is the cockpit. We're just a hundred kilometers from the target site. Figured you wanted to have a quick look before the shit storm starts."_

"I'll be there."

She stood up inside the packed interior of the cargo plane. Technically, it was a Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy, but the awkward years since the arrival of the Infinite Stratos included lots of refitting. The Super Galaxy she was in was a testament of such insanity, what with the new engines. But the body was the tried and tested frame of a much older vehicle. Within its massive hull, Camilla easily walked by the large steel boxes stacked atop each other, one after the next. The entire interior was loaded to the brim with the containers.

Stepping around a corner and up some narrow stairs, Camilla jerked the door open and found herself in the Super Galaxy's cockpit, its two pilots at the controls. They well concealed under the thick piloting outfits of their own and their dark helmets and headsets. One turned to her and nodded.

She looked out the windows, and indeed, saw they were closing in on the target. She could see the lights of the city in the distance.

"ETA till we're right over top?"

"Ten or twelve minutes, I'm guessing. We're pretty heavy right now. You ready?"

"Of course. What's the status of the Reaper?"

"Gonna check right now."

The other pilot turned spoke over his shoulder, "We're getting a lot of chatter from the local air control. They know we're here. They're asking for identification."

"No point." Camilla bluntly put it.

"Yeah, I know. They'll be shutting up pretty soon."

The first pilot spoke up again, "I just got word from Reaper Control. They're over top the target and they're gonna fire in a few moments. Time to get going."

"I'll see you two later."

With that Camilla spun about and descended back into the cargo hold, and quickly rushed back to the rear of the Super Galaxy, where she had just sat, where there was just enough free space left between the cargo actual, and the closed rear loading ramp.

There it sat in its deep black glory, passive and open, waiting for her, its pilot.

Her Infinite Stratos.

With practiced moves, she climbed on and settled her limbs into the open slots. The machine responded, with clamps closing onto her body.

**[C.O.O.S: COMBAT ORIENTED OPERATING SYSTEM.]**

**[PILOT BIOMETRICS: CLEAR.]**

**[POWER SYSTEM: CLEAR.]**

**[HYPER SENSOR: CLEAR.]**

**[HYDRAULICS: CLEAR.]**

**[SUBSPACE ACCESS: CLEAR.]**

**[WEAPON FEED: CLEAR.]**

**[FINAL CHECKS: CLEAR.]**

**[INFINITE STRATOS SYSTEM: UCHIGANE HANA-B. ALL CLEAR.]**

**[LOCKS DISENGAGING.]**

The joints of her limbs came loose.

She put on her helmet.

* * *

Somewhere, far away, an slim, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle carried a payload of several short range, air to ground missiles which hung from its underside and all across its wing span. Propelled by the incessant buzzing of its single propeller affixed to the back, the machine silently banked into a lazy curve and made a slow dive.

Below it was Yokohama's power planet, which sat besides the bay. It provided an energy supply for everything that ringed that body of water, and a large portion of the city besides.

The Reaper drone received its orders, and promptly fired the entirety of its payload at a row of buildings off to one side that contained the facility's power transformers.

And after a delay of six years, missiles finally crashed into Japan's soil, and the world as they knew it finally ended.

The Yokohama waterline was plunged into darkness.

* * *

A/N: Once again, I prove I am totally incapable of writing small chapters. No, I haven't stopped writing that one Touhou fic I posted a while back. Chapter 3 is about halfway written as I put this down. I'll just go back and forth as best I can. I'm sure that's really reassuring. *Eye rolling*.

Anyways, Infinite Stratos. I really don't know what to say. It's an AU. It'll taste more Real Robot. The plot thrust isn't finished, but I'm going carry this thing as far as I got. Look forward to lots of things exploding.


	2. DRAGON

The Infinite Stratos was a miracle weapon upon its introduction, and still is, given the fastidious and persistent research that continues to build around it. Though arguably a very profitable weapon, in terms of its immediate benefits, as well as the side effects of reverse engineering its technology, the proliferation of the Infinite Stratos continues to be heavily restricted, which incensed many board directors.

Proliferation, after all, is the greatest goal of any company product. Henry Ford became rich because he filled America with his cars, one in every garage of every family. If those board members could, they would have filled every garage of every family in the world with an Infinite Stratos.

However, Henry Ford didn't make his factories work with only 467 car engines. The world's governments didn't sign an Alaska Treaty that said Model T's could only be driven in such and such circumstances, with only so many allotted to so many nations, and so forth. Most definitely, cars did not resist usage from near half the population of the world, based on sex.

"But this is the silicon renaissance!" The world's interested parties exclaimed, "Computer technology is smaller than ever! Computer technology is cheaper than ever! We will make Infinite Stratos one way or another! Core be damned! Alaska Treaty be damned! Female pilots be damned! Shinonono Tabane be damned!"

So in the interest of commerce, a new machine began to form. It was known as an SS. Originally standing for Substitute Stratos, since then the name had been shortened to the more appropriate "Sub Stratos".

An intermediate weapon of war, it was much more ungainly than its human piloted ancestors. Without an IS core, they had to be built much larger and sturdier, to contain a large enough engine to power it and its systems. Without the core's advanced computing and a pilot, it relied instead on a functional, albeit simple, AI. They couldn't float on the ground or gracefully through the air in the same way like an IS. Shielding was limited. Their weapons weren't as exotic or eye catching. Sub Stratos indeed.

But it was everything a business wanted. The restrictions of the Alaska Treaty were much relaxed on these core-less weapons. It didn't require a female pilot. Most of all, it was _cheaper to build._

On battlefields across the world, where the eyes of civilized people were turned away, dozens of SS models could be found, alongside new armored fighting vehicles. They were particularly popular in urban combat zones, where they could maneuver in narrower streets better than tanks, and scale tall buildings, if need be.

One particular model of note is the AM-9 Gargoyle, designed by Crescent Intelligence, a company based in England. Moderately popular, the Gargoyle showed off its intricate engineering in its greatest trick, a sort of "sleep mode". Increasing portability and manageability, the SS could be commanded to fold up its massive frame into a much smaller, crate like format, allowing them to be stacked atop each other and packed much more densely. Gargoyles were thus ideal for transportation in most forms, even in large aircraft, where space and weight already is at a premium.

The Crescent Intelligence spokesperson, when confided on the Gargoyle, also cited the great durability of the weapon system, claiming that "sleeping" Gargoyles, folded up as they were, could easily be dropped from a great height onto solid ground and suffer little to no damage, all of it superficial. The somewhat morbid idea, the spokesperson admitted, was that Gargoyles could be dropped from aircraft as a two-stage assault weapon, with the heavy shape of the SS crushing a target site from above like rudimentary bombs, before activating and "securing" the area afterwards.

Of course, it was doubtful any of the clientele would use the weapon in such a brutish manner. This wasn't World War Two, where entire cities were free game in the flames of total war. This was a civilized age, where precision work was required, to separate the objective from civilian collateral damage.

Thus, it was more than unlikely the Gargoyle would be utilized in such fashion. They wouldn't do it, surely no one else would.

* * *

**2: DRAGON**

* * *

Ichika had been standing in the back, listening to the spokesperson wax on at length about the capabilities of China's _Shenlong_. In his case, he actually had been genuinely curious about the IS was supposed to be capable of. Rin had been rather reticent about any information about her machine, citing a firm order from a _very_ scary lady not to frivolously bring up details of her work. Thus, now was the first time Ichika was hearing about the power of the _Shenlong_, same as everyone else.

That was when a faint sound reached the boy's ears. It was strange, rapid series of bass thumps, one after another. It sounded a bit like fireworks. Perplexed, Ichika turned to look through the glass walls of the convention center.

Across the bay, some building was glowing bright orange and belching a massive plume of smoke.

"What the..."

He caught a glimpse of a blackness that raced across the lights of the city, and then the dim lighting of the atrium went dead completely, along with the spokesperson's little holographic show.

Murmurs of confusion erupted, even as emergency lighting kicked back on in the next second, illuminating the party with a dull yellow of battery operated floodlights that were mounted along the walls. Ichika turned back to crowd, listening and trying to understand what was going on. Men were gathering at the front, conversing amongst themselves and stilling the somewhat restless guests.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there seems to have been a local power failure. If you'll be patient, we'll contact the local technicians..." One spoke aloud. Ichika couldn't hear the others, but given their perplexed facial expressions as they debated amongst themselves, it seemed like they hadn't been able to call such folk.

He tried to compose himself, and think he was merely being paranoid, but the teenager suddenly had a bad feeling grow within him. There was a possibility that a Something was happening, whatever it was. He turned back to try and squint out the window he had just been looking through, but the illumination from outside was gone, and the bright emergency lighting from inside created only glares and reflections. Regardless, Ichika tried to peer past.

In the darkness, he could make out something cube like come towards him. The very idea of it was of course, incredibly bizarre. He arched his neck back in appreciation of this fact.

"What the...!"

The cube became much more pronounced as it hurtled towards Ichika. He surreally noticed the gray digital camouflage splashed across the object right before it crashed into the glass loudly, leaving a bright white circle of smashed glass that lunged at the boy, making him fall back in panic.

With several more impacts echoing across the building, and more glass cracking, the panic set in.

* * *

Huang Lingyin, also known simply as Rin to her friends, was in a much better position to witness what exactly was going on by this point. She, along with a whole support staff for the _Shenlong_ had been set up in a room on the bottom floor of the connected annex hall, where they could do backstage final checks for the IS before the demonstration. It really was nothing more than a glorified service entrance that was separated from the park by a simple shutter entrance. There were grilles in the otherwise solid aluminum door.

This was how, when the lights went dead and was replaced by battery illumination, Rin was able to squint through the gaps in the metal and swear.

"...The hell?"

She could see the rest of the convention center, outlined by its own internal lighting. At that moment, the black silhouette of a massive plane flew over top, followed by a heavy woosh of its frame cutting through air, but no noise of jet engines or propellers. As it swooped across, Rin could see the loading ramp on its rear open and spilling its contents out like trash.

Cube like steel containers smashed into the ground, bouncing and rolling, and cutting deep gouges across the soft dirt and grass of the park. More slammed through trees and benches, reducing them to stone and wood splinters. A good four or five sailed lazily through the air, almost in slow motion, before crashing into the side of the building itself, leaving great white craters to fall out, and echoes of panicking screams. There was no doubt more that fell on the roof of the convention center, too.

As each box finally rolled to a stop, they began to unfurl. The edges snapped out and became blocky arms and legs, standing on feet mounted with large treaded ball bearings, with stumpy non-hands protruding weapon ports. The whole box became alive, growing to larger proportions as mechanisms began to refit themselves into their necessary positions, exposed heat sinks and radio antennae emerging from the back, chest protruding as plat armor slotted and expanded properly, and at the top, a stumpy panel jumped upward, revealing red sensors lenses that lined its sides.

Burly Gargoyles now stood occupying the grounds of the convention center. In synchronous order, the sub stratos began driving out on their balled feet.

Rin spun away from, frantic, "Lei Lei! There're unknowns all over the place! What's going on! ?"

The back of the prep room Rin had been looking at was occupied by several cheap tables and unpacked crates that exposed portable computer equipment, transmitters and screens, turning the place into the temporary workshop for _Shenlong_'s support team. There were easily ten people, all furiously working over their equipment. At the center of this was the person Rin had been addressing, an older woman in uniform, her black hair done up in a ponytail and her glasses framing a severe face.

Lei Lei Yang, Huang Lingyin's supervisor, slammed down a phone back into its cradle, "The phone lines are dead. What kind of unknowns are we talking about, Huang?"

"A **lot** of SS!" Rin spat, backing away from the shutter. She didn't want to be under it in case a Gargoyle would come stomping it down.

"There's no mistaking it, then. We're definitely under attack."

"Don't we have security for this sort of thing?"

"Security, yes. Not for 'this sort of thing'." Lei Lei dully retorted. She turned her attention to the staff, barking out her orders, "Team, pack the essentials and nothing more, we're evacuating!"

"What!"

Lei Lei's command caused Rin to turn around in surprise. Her supervisor turned her cold look on her.

"We're. Evacuating."

"There are civilians in the other building! We can't just leave them!"

Rin managed to avoid stupidly adding 'my best friend is trapped in there', because as much as she would have meant it, she didn't need Lei Lei's glare intensifying with any more dissatisfaction at her pilot's disagreements.

" Our concern is the _Shenlong_, and the _Shenlong_ only. I don't have time to argue this."

"I can take those SS! The _Shenlong_ is ready, it'd be easy!" Rin exclaimed, pressing a thumb against her chest. She was indeed dressed in a form fitting outfit outing her as an IS pilot, the suit colored a dark pink. On her wrist was a metal band with intertwining pink and black hues.

She continued, "I've trained! I know what to do! If I can draw those SS away from that building-"

"You're not. The _Shenlong_ might be what the unknowns are after, and I'm not going to throw it to them because you want to play hero. If the noncombatants duck their heads, they should be fine."

Lei Lei looked back at the rest of the staff, who had paused when they had seen the argument break out.

"You prefer to stay here with the enemy? Move it!"

They got back to packing.

"So that's it. You're just going to run away?" Rin glowered.

"It's evacuating."

An odd thought inspired the pilot, making her speak one more time, "Do you realize what this will look like to others?"

"_Huang Lingyin_, my patience is essentially gone right now..."

"All those 'civilians' we're leaving to those SS are the really important people in the international IS community and the governments and everything!"

Rin obviously could have phrased it better, but given her supervisor's expression showed a flash of surprise, she pushed on.

"If we run, it's going to turn from everyone talking about China having a 3rd Gen to the Chinese representatives running away because they could! But think of what those fancy people up there would say if they know the first thing we did was fight for them?"

"I'm not endangering our IS for a publicity stunt, pilot!"

"I know, but even if we did run, there's nothing to say that those SS won't catch up to us. We have to fight our way out, Supervisor Yang. The _Shenlong_ is already outfitted and combat ready, and that's our best bet. What's the point of bringing an IS if we're not going to even use it against the weapons closest related to it?"

The tense silence was equaled only by the echoes of the machines outside, that followed with the noises of crunching steel. The Gargoyles were outside, doing something, and time was running out.

"Do you really think you can do it, pilot Huang?" Lei Lei said, almost challenging.

"I'm not stupid. If I can draw enough of them away from here, we'll have a chance for all of us to get away. " Rin shot back.

Lei Lei kept her glare up for another second before groaning to herself with frustration, both at her own weakness as well as her charge's arrogance.

"Argh! Our short range radios are battery powered, so they should be fine. Lock down your IS' frequency to 140.96. You're objective is to draw the SS away, and _only_ that. If I hear you turn this into a one woman rescue operation, you can say good bye to your job right now."

Rin fought her grin back, saluting.

"Yes, ma'am! I understand!"

With that, the smaller girl turned to look at the metal shutters. Through the gaps she could faintly see the enemies moving about. She held her hand in front of her, and brought her eyes on the bracelet that hung from the wrist.

_"SHENLONG!"_

Outside, a Gargoyle that had dropped into a patrol sub-routine halted as its sensors picked up an energy spike from a rear access it was about to pass. The balls on the back of its feet wheeled it over to the closed gate. The red sensors at the "head" of the machine then spat out the red line of a scanning laser that swept it twice, with one swipe and then a return trip.

The Gargoyle confirmed it was, in fact, looking at a shutter, which it concluded was not very likely the cause of the spike. But it was a gate, therefore whatever caused it must have been behind it.

The SS took another second to conclude that since the power spike was from a system that did not emit an IFF, it was allowed to just shoot at the shutters and everything behind it until the incongruity in the parameters of mission normalcy went away.

It raised its boxy arms, and the tips of a barrel extended just enough to let the particle weapons through.

The shutters exploded.

The shutters exploded _outward._

The Gargoyle had a microsecond to register this new development when the torso plating on it suddenly crunched inward, as if a pair of invisible fists punched into it at the same time. Internal machinery came loose and circuits broke as the Gargoyle wheeled back, trying to control its balance. The sensors realized that the source of the energy spike was coming forth, and it was raising something over its head...

The SS covered its chest and head with its forearms, and the engine poured out more energy, as the AI quickly deduced an attack and took an appropriate defensive posture. The forearms became covered with the light glow as emitters on the surface formed a shield across them.

This served no purpose at all in stopping the massive four and a half foot blade from simply crushing the SS in two. The fat saber smashed the arms and through the Gargoyles shoulder, and lodged itself quite firmly within the machine with loud squealing and crunching as the metal and plastic gave way. Hydraulic fluid and fuel spilled across the ground.

The SS seized up in its position as its computer irrevocably crashed, and with that, Huang Lingyin made her first kill of the night. She stood a good meter taller, clothed in the vestments of the _Shenlong, _the crown of the dragon wrapped around her head.

With machine enhanced movements, Rin kicked the dead SS off the blade of her _Souten Gagetsu, _spilling its half cleaved remains a good few feet.

At the moment it died, Gargoyles all about the ruined park grounds swiveled about and turned their attention solely on the girl. Wheels spinning, they all charged at once towards her.

Rin's mouth instinctively broke into an toothy grin, her sharp canines turning the act even more predatory.

"Alright! **Let's kill them!"**

_Ichika, I'm getting you out of here!_

* * *

Ichika heard an explosion in the distance, from where he stood. His first instinct was to sigh again, but he wasn't sure whether it was from relief of his friend's dependability or from the exasperation of his friend's predictability. Either way, it didn't change the fact that Rin would never sit back when there was a danger to be overcome.

As it was, when the crates slammed into the windows and quickly turned out to be sub stratos, everyone panicked. One thing more frightening than a potentially lethal attacker was one that had absolutely no hesitation in being so, when ordered. With the possibility that the SS present were sent to gun them all down, the crowd booked it, screaming and yelling down the stairs, with Ichika along for the ride. By the time they made it to the ground floor, someone screamed that the security shutters over the main entrance had fallen shut, worsening the frenzy as people grabbed at the bars over the glass doors and their freedom, under the impression they could just throttle the metal into surrendering.

It was quite ironic that the greatest aid in making everyone stop panicking were yet more SS, as two of the boxy robots fell from out of view onto the pavement on the other side of the closed gates. There was a lot more screaming as everyone back away from the entrance, but when the machines didn't open fire, it assusaged the mob of their fears they would be shot on sight.

It took five more minutes after that for the most calm and collected individuals of the some hundred people to yell at everyone to calm down and more importantly, shut up.

Now everyone was worriedly trapped within the foyer, staring nervously at the pair of SS outside, that seemed to be content standing stock still and stare back.

Ichika, from where he was standing, tried to at least find anyone he recognized tonight. Cecilia Alcott seemed to have disappeared in the chaos, and he only hoped she hadn't been hurt in the process. He caught sight of Charlotte Dunois, standing with her father Jean-Benoit, hemmed in by the unbreakable wall of Jericho as a row of bodyguards hermetically sealed the two family members from the rest of the crowd. Ichika knew better than to go try and bother them in this situation.

And of course, that was when the teenager heard what could only be Rin kicking the crap of even more SS outside.

"The hell's going on out there?" An American standing near Ichika complained. The boy knew just from overhearing that this same man was named Michael Something-Or-Other, and was representing some division of a Floridian electronics company called Sabre... it was more than he even wanted to know, damn his odd memory.

"It must be the Chinese IS fighting outside!" Someone nearby realized.

"Damn it! That crazy bitch is going to get us all killed. Isn't she even thinking about us? I can't believe the Chinese would try to pull a publicity stunt in a hostage crisis!"

"Of course she's thinking about us!" Ichika turned on the American, incensed, "The only reason she would be out there fighting is to protect us from the SS!"

"Well we didn't ask for it! Who's to say those robots won't shoot us in retaliation! Besides, what makes you so sure the pilot isn't doing this for herself?"

"I'm pretty sure I know my _best friend_ pretty well." Ichika laid the sarcasm pretty thick, scowling.

Before the spate became any worse, a woman's voice distracted them.

"Hey! Hey, come on! The last thing we need are more fights, guys!"

The two men turned to find what could only be described as a classic buxom blonde making her way up to them. She looked to be in her twenties, just a bit older than Ichika. The long locks behind her back had obviously been styled in a way to give a "glamorous" air, emphasizing the femininity of the blue suit she was wearing. Ichika couldn't help but note two things, the two gold bars that were fixed to the shoulders of her outfit, and the ample bust line pushing out the front of her blazer.

The order he noticed these things in was irrelevant.

Really.

Ichika considered it rather forward of her, but the woman slapped her palms onto the Michael guy and his shoulders, chiding lightly.

"Don't blame each other, and don't blame the pilot outside for making the decisions she made in the heat of the moment. At least not right now, what's important is we keep calm and find our own solutions, alright?"

Michael brushed the woman's hand off indignantly, "I don't need a lecture. Look, just leave me alone, alright?"

The man stalked off, disappearing into the crowd.

"Hey!" Ichika shouted at his back, annoyed at his rude departure, but the woman held him back, her hand still on his shoulder.

"Don't blame him. He's out of his depth here, and he's afraid, like most of us here are."

"Still, he shouldn't just walk away from you like that."

"Heh, you're a regular white knight for your age, aren't you, Ichika Orimura?"

Ichika turned, surprised she knew him. She winked back.

"...It seems like I keep meeting people who already know me." The boy replied, hoping the blood in his ears would retreat faster.

"Heh, sorry. I guess it's just because your sister's been hands on in designing the training regimes for each of our countries. It's hard for us to not know the family well when all she has is her brother. Natasha Fairs, US of A's IS pilot, at your service." To emphasize the fact, she reached under the collar of her shirt to pull out a necklace made of intricate white and silver steel. The pendant was made of two white ribbed, spade-like shapes that looked like leaves... or maybe feathers...?

Chifuyu's Brother would have responded had not a horrifyingly familiar voice interrupted his conversation yet again.

"_Oberleutant_ Fairs! Are you slacking off?"

This time Ichika had no luck in escaping Laura Bodewig as she marched up to the two. Natasha miraculously (in his opinion) managed to remain upbeat despite the black-clad German's stare.

"Just keeping the peace, Laura."

"Have you checked all the doors here?"

"Just before. Every emergency exit here locked down in response to the power outage. Every other door is just a dead end and every phone we've come across is down."

"Hnn..." Laura turned her one eye to the Japanese boy, "Orimura."

"B-Bodewig, look-"

"Shut up. I don't like you, but I'm not petty enough to spite you in this situation, so stop your sniveling. I want to know if your cellphone works."

"Huh?"

Ichika unearthed it. Being the brother of Orimura Chifuyu meant you ended up being the recipient of a few cherries when certain interests wanted to play nice with The Instructor. One of them was the prototype smartphone he had with him. Ostensibly a just a black plastic tab when closed, Ichika pulled it open, revealing a smooth black backing upon which a hyper-resolution screen got projected onto. The holographic display was the phone developer's ostentatious display of how reverse engineered IS technology could benefit mankind. No screen to smudge, and sensors tracked the finger movements perfectly, whether you padded in a phone number onto what was really just the black surface, or flicked icons about on your downloaded iteration of yet another Angry Birds.

As it was, Ichika was only interested in testing the connection of his phone. He shook he head when the phone gave him an answer.

"No reception."

Laura wrapped her fingers around her chin, thinking, "That means the cell sites for reception are dead too. The communication black out by our enemies are very thorough."

"They took out the power around the entire bay, too." Natasha added, "All the local authorities will be tied up just trying to organize themselves and bring order back to the locals. It might be hours before the police even check how we're doing."

"Hey, you two are IS pilots, right?" Ichika piped up, "Couldn't you two blast your way out past the shutters and the SS? That'd be the most direct way out!"

Laura shook an negative to that, "Those SS would probably respond to our activation, first. Your great idea would also involve getting everybody here caught in a fire fight between armored vehicles. Have you considered that?"

"Oh."

"Look, as military, our first concern should be the safety of the civilians here, above all else." Natasha explained, playing a bit of damage control, "If waiting here means the SS won't be provoked into an attack response, then the best thing to do is to wait."

"But it might be hours before we escape, then!"

"It's tough, but discretion is the better part of valor."

"As opposed to headstrong bravado..." Laura snorted.

"_Bodewig..."_ American pilot said, warningly. Laura shrugged and silenced herself. Ichika spoke up again, frustrated.

"Look, I can't just sit around and let these guys get away with this!"

"Ichika, ask yourself, what do you want? To protect these people or to destroy the enemies?"

"Both! As long as we're trapped here, no one will know what's going on, and they'll have the upper hand when they eventually do! My friend's out there fighting, and I can't do a thing! I'm sick of sitting with a thumb up my ass and waiting to be rescued _again!_"

The boy took a second to catch his breath after suddenly emptying his lungs of his angered rant. Natasha looked rather taken aback. Laura kept her expression neutral.

In the ensuing silence, someone cried out with elation, "Hey guys! I think I found a way out!"

That got everyone's attention.

The three of them had to fight their way to the front of the crowd that quickly congregated at the location of possible escape. It involved lots of the two IS pilots shouting they were 'qualified' in these regards, whatever that was supposed to mean.

They stood in front of an open door, with "Janitor's Closet" emblazoned over the front in Japanese and English.

By the door was one of the guests who's fancy suit was now looking rather disheveled in the aftermath of the panic. The man explained.

"I was still checking the doors when I found this place. I looked inside, and... well, see for yourself."

Natasha, Laura, and Ichika looked. The interior of the closet was filled with shadows due to the bad angling of the emergency lighting. It was just about enough, still. Amidst the shelves of brooms, mops, and liquid cleaning agents, nestled near a back corner was a trapdoor that was padlocked shut, linoleum paneled to match the rest of the floor.

"I thought you said you checked all the doors." The German deadpanned at the blonde.

"I checked all doors I could! That doesn't mean I was doing it by myself! Sheesh, Bodewig."

"Where do you think this goes?" Ichika asked, eagerness underlining his voice.

The discoverer shrugged, "It's locked. It might go somewhere dangerous for all I know. Or nowhere."

"It's the best option we have right now." Natasha resolutely decided, right before Ichika helpfully pointed out a slight detail.

"It's locked, though. Unless you're strong enough to pry it off."

"Stand back." Was all Laura said as swept past them, one hand reaching behind her back and pulled free a black Eickhorn knife from under her clothes. Kneeling, Laura stabbed the blade into the gap between the shackle and the mechanism and _pulled_.

Ichika, for an instant, swore he heard the muffled sound of seam lines tearing under Laura's jacket, but that was quickly forgotten when the padlock snapped in two, sending bits of metal flying into the walls. Sheathing the knife back under the clothes, the _Schwarzer Hase_ commander gathered her fingers on the handle of the trapdoor and swung it upwards. The hinges screeched, but nonetheless acceded passage downward. The teenager winced at the noise, and a fearful part of him in the back of his mind questioned just exactly how strong Laura Bodewig was. An ace IS pilot was one thing, but the girl was only a little larger than Rin, frankly speaking.

Laura squinted downwards as best she could. If the Janitor's Closet was badly lit, the passage under trapdoor was essentially pitch black.

"It looks like a utility passage, maybe. For water and fiber optics, I'm guessing."

The idea of an actual route unknown by the SS quickly agitated the onlooking crowd.

"This is a way out! Come on-"

"We gotta get out of here-!"

"Before those robots-!"

"Quiet."

Laura's death glare quickly got it.

"It's a near pitch black crawlspace with no indication where it leads. If we start piling in, you'll all be lost before you know it. We need flashlights, one or two people to go down, find a safe route to the outside, and report back. _Then_ we can organize a real escape attempt."

"Well, I think we can check flashlights from the list." Natasha chirped, and pointed to a pair of heavy duty emergency flashlights that were attached to a rack in the wall.

"I'll go look." Ichika volunteered.

Laura seemed divided on that response, "Orimura, if this about what you said earlier..."

"Don't worry, it makes sense. The SS didn't fire on us earlier, so I'm sure if I run into another, it won't treat me as a threat. It's not like it'll decide I'm an IS pilot. I'll find a way out for us."

"...Fine."

"I'll go with him to make sure Sir Chomps-a-Lot here doesn't get into too much trouble." Natasha piped up, smirking.

Laura shrugged at that, "Fine. My IS is better suited to protecting the civilians, anyways, worst come to worst."

Natasha pulled the flashlights from the rack, and handed one to Ichika, before approaching the hole in the ground.

_"Ah'll Be Bahck."_ With a coy wink and an exaggeratedly accented quotation, the American pilot slid into the tunnel first.

Ichika waited until the flashlight illumination inside the cable and pipe festooned passage dimmed before he jumped in. As he stood halfway in the trapdoor, Laura spoke up again.

"Orimura. Make sure you come back. We only have one shot at this."

"Don't worry. I may not be as great as my sister, but I can do at least this much. I'm not a man if I don't keep my promises." Ichika said, a little too seriously.

Laura snorted, "Tch. How old fashioned. Get going."

* * *

In the skies above the Pacifico Yokohama, the pilot who called herself Camilla found herself gaining an ever deepening frown as a list on her HUD started turning progressively red and yellow.

**[SS1:ACTIVE.]  
[SS2:COMBAT_INEFFECTIVE.]  
[SS3:COMBAT_INEFFECTIVE.]  
[SS4:ACTIVE.]  
[SS5:SIGNAL_LOST.]  
[SS6:COMBAT_INEFFECTIVE.]  
[SS7:SIGNAL_LOST.]  
...**

She had brought some 20 Gargoyles with her, and within minutes, a quarter of her fighting force had been disabled. Ideally, the sub stratos would have stopped the staff of the Chinese IS before it could sortie. Even then, she was prepared to lose more than a few Gargoyles to keep the IS distracted. But this was too many, too fast.

Clearly, the IS pilot was nothing to scoff at. She wasn't challenged by the attacking SS at all. Worse, Camilla could see down below as the fight was moving away from the close proximity to the convention center. At this rate, too many Gargoyles would be drawn away from their search.

There was only one thing left to do, Camilla begrudgingly accepted. She didn't mind a good fight, but she preferred it when it _went to plan._

"Hmph. Nobody said this would be easy..." She grunted as she rotated her shoulder a few times, working the kinks out of her joints and upper back.

Then she dropped out of the sky.

Rin's distraction plan went so well she was vaguely afraid she bit off more than she could chew.

Skimming low to the ground, Rin pulled her _Shenlong _backwards out of the park grounds and down the hill, with some five or six SS (If she recalled right, these ones were called Gargoyles or something...?) chasing after her. The machines had their arms raised and red beams spat out of the ends, exploding the ground around Rin as she raced away.

SS may have been simple, but they were machines, and if there was one thing they could do, it was precisely aim. Rin swerved and jinked from side to side as best as she could, but the SS were leading their shots well. It was only because of her reflexes that they were getting only narrow misses or shots glancing at bad angles off her shields.

Rin made a mental shout in her head, demanding the _Shenlong_ update her on the condition of her shields. A holographic gauge formed beside her face.

**[EMITTER EFFICENCY: 89%]**

_Haven't lost too much yet..._

The feet of the _Shenlong_ backed down the hill and suddenly scraped hard pavement as the fight reached the large outdoor car park, filled to capacity, be it buses, limos or what have you. Rin had been so busy avoiding the SS' beams she was caught off guard when the hill leveled out. The impact under her feet caused her to stumble and fight for her balance.

That same instant, one of the SS charged forward and displayed a sudden burst of human like movement. Twisting itself at the torso, the Gargoyle reared back one arm, preparing to slam its blunt fistless forearm into Rin's face.

The processors in the IS fed into the Chinese pilot's senses, and that frozen second of clarity stretched itself to what felt like ten in slow motion. She could see the machine beginning to punch, and she could feel her center of balance pushed backwards with her posture.

Moments like these, people would think was a torturous prolonging before punishment, but for clever pilots like Rin, she knew her IS was giving her the time to think, and remember things like the _Souten Gagetsu_ in her right hand.

Gritting her teeth, Rin stabbed her sword deep into the pavement. As the momentum of her machine carried her on, she spun about the rudimentary axel her sword formed, swinging out of the way of Gargoyle that gave a haymaker to empty air.

"Bastard!" Rin snarled as her rotation brought her back around behind the SS. She pulled out the heavy blade, turning the circular swing turn into a heavy spinning movement as she pushed the force into the _Souten_, bringing her around at the same time the SS swiveled in place. The Gargoyle made it in time to see itself divest everything from the waist down as Rin bisected it, sending the upper torso tumbling through the air.

The Chinese pilot gave another cry as she spun back to face the rest of the robots that continued to converge on her. A mental command from Rin caused the ports on the bulbous floating protrusions at her shoulders to separate and open up. What followed were a series of rapid cracking noises as the _Shenlong _retreated.

In the wide field before her, more invisible fists slammed wildly as she bought herself breathing room. The side of several expensive cars sadly crumpled under several cratering impacts, Several SS managed to close up their arms over their chests in time for their mounted shields to absorb the blasts, though one had its arm torn off. A few wild shots smashed into the ground, leaving deep gouges that one approaching SS couldn't avoid in time, leaving it tripping and sliding across the ground in a shower of yellow spars before crashing headfirst into a parked car.

Their work done, the Dragon Cannons, aka, the _Ryuho_ above Rin closed up again as she beckoned at the regrouping Garogyles.

"Come on! One at a time, you stupid autobots!"

This time the Gargoyles didn't chase her again. At first glance it seemed obvious machines wouldn't have the ears to pick up a childish taunt, but the sudden lack of aggression surprised Rin.

_They're not pursuing? Huh?_

That was when she saw it.

A common myth about the Hyper Sensor was that it granted a pilot nigh perfect 360 degree vision, some even claiming that it made piloting blind perfectly viable, since sensory data was being directly projected into the brain's sight region. The truth was though, the human being only had two eyes, and the brain, no matter how much help it got, could see only two eyes worth. The Hyper Sensor helped immensely, no doubt, but what it really did was wrap the pilot's _peripheral vision_ about their head. It wasn't perfect, and when Rin was focused on the SS earlier on, she didn't have time to notice the parking lot behind her. But now that there was a moment of stillness, the peripheral vision was at work again.

She peripherally saw a large katana head for the back of her neck.

_Oh shit-_

Rin threw herself forward, ducking her head. The blade sliced overhead by a few inches, scraping paint and sparks off the back of her Dragon Cannons. Sure, the IS had shields, but she doubted anyone would consider testing the shielded when your head was what was on the line. She landed roughing on one knee, while her free hand braced the ground and held her up.

As the blade passed her, the machine it belonged to swooped past her, twisted to a halt and gently dropped to the ground between Rin and the sub stratos.

Rin recognized it vaguely, though a frown indicated confusion as some features didn't match.

It was an pitch black _Uchigane_ at first glance. There was no mistaking the massive skirt, built for stabilization and defense. But the evocatively Japanese levitating shoulder plates were gone, replaced with some sort of mechanisms that protruded three stilt like structures, fanned out to the sides and adjoined to them by ball joints. At the top of each stilt was the rectangular frame of a Sub Space Gate. Rin had no idea what the whole thing was for, but it was clearly custom work.

The skirt as well, while still recognizably large, had the front and back sections modified, replaced by a pair of jointed flanges, like some ridiculous pleating of IS fashion.

Rin couldn't see the pilot's face. It was a no brainer for a dirty operation like this that this girl would be wearing a "visor-type" Hyper Sensor, this particular model being beak shaped, jutting over her nose to show only the stern line of her mouth. The only other feature otherwise was her predictably black pilot's suit and the long black hair that spilled out back from under the concealing helmet. In her hand, the IS pilot loosely held the katana that could have beheaded the Chinese girl, with the end of the long blade biting into the ground.

The black clad girl raised her left arm, and a small screen appeared, showing a list of the SS.

"All assets return to the search procedure. Uchigane Hana-B will intercept the IS." She spoke to it. By command, all the Gargoyles turned about face and drove back towards the convention center they abandoned. Rin swore under her breath but quickly covered it up with a loud taunt as she stood back up.

"Finally, a boss fight!"

"You're certainly don't run short on confidence, do you?" Camilla dryly noted.

"You control those SS, right? Now that you've appeared, you've simplified my work." Rin sneered, "I'll just beat the crap out of you until you surrender! Some bitch terrorist who makes robots do the work for her won't be able to beat me!"

"Hmph. Naive." Was all the terrorist returned, as her other hand moved across her waist to one of the two sub space gates mounted at the hips of the Uchigane's skirt. Grabbing air, she materialized the grip of a sword before drawing a second katana, which she held at her side in a reversed grip, blade arcing behind her back.

Rin raised her _Souten Gagetsu_ at the pitch black IS, daring, "I'll see if you can say that again after you're eating the pavement with no teeth!"

At that, Camilla spared no more words. She speared her second sword into the side of a car beside her with a large crunch. Spreading her legs a little, she levered impaled vehicle into the air for a moment before she hurled it off her sword. The sleek coupe sailed across the parking lot towards Rin.

"You'll have to do better than that-!"

The _Ryuho _opened up again. The invisible gunfire rapidly disintegrated the car, sending broken metal every which way. She held the _Souten_ up for the terrorist, who as predicted, was flying in low behind the makeshift projectile, holding her swords a head of her like a pair of scissors. The thinner Katanas closed on the brute weight of Rin's saber, though with the force of the hurtling IS, the _Shenlong _ was slammed back several meters, with the feet dragging a long trail of cracking pavement behind.

Huang bared her teeth, trying to hold back the katana with one hand on her sword, but it was only a necessary instant as she drew her free hand back. By a mental command, a second saber materialized into the open palm. With a cry, Rin brought her new weapon over her head and down on the _Uchigane Hana-B._ Camilla just narrowed avoided being smashed into the ground as she broke off her attack, flying back several feet from the splintering ground.

"My _Souten Gagetsu_ are twins." _Shenlong_'s pilot smirked, "Still ready to take me now that I got two swords like you?"

"'Like me', huh..." Camilla muttered under her breath. She charged again. This time the two pairs of swords crossed each other and locked in a steel tango, mirroring their pilots as they fought for control.

"'Two swords', like this! ?" She snarled.

The stilts most towards Camilla's front split in two. A second ball joint tipping each end turned into a simulated elbow. A pincer at the back unfolded and had another joining it to the stilt, turning it into a basic hand and wrist. As it unfolded, the pincers passed the sub space gate mounted at the top of the floating machine, and grabbed a sword grip out of thin air as it swung outward.

Lifting high above Camilla's IS, two new arms held their own katana. Rin could only watch with a frozen moment of clarity as the swords slashed down on her from above.

* * *

Elsewhere, underneath the convention center were the passageways for cargo transportation and parking, where the behind scenes things went on. Given the situation, the tunnel was naturally empty.

_"It's a dead end here. Can you move back?"_

_"There's not enough room. I think we're stuck."_

_"Great."_

The only thing filling the space were two muffled voices, though there was no indication from where they came.

_"Wait, the floor here feels colder... there must be an open space underneath us."_

_"You there's barely enough room to move here, there's no way you can break through the floor."_

_"Well... there is room to move my head..."_

_"...Wait, don't tell me you're-"_

The muffled voices were followed by a muffled crunching. Bits of dust and plaster fell from the ceiling, and noticeable cracks started tearing outward from repeated impacts on the other side.

One final good slam caused the portion of the ceiling in the tunnel to collapse inward, with large shards of gray concrete breaking across the floor with a waterfall of dust and debris. A hole remained above.

A woman's shape dropped do the ground, gracefully falling to one knee upon landing before standing up. A teenage boy followed soon after, though he had to settle for falling and rolling a few times to break his fall.

"That's one way to use my head, etcetera, etcetera." Natasha couldn't help but quip. While her voice could be heard, her head had been concealed by a thick, face concealing silver helmet, with extra plating extending down around her neck until it hit the shoulders.

"I had really hoped you wouldn't say that." Ichika groaned.

"Hey, if the shoe fits. By the way, how do I look? Something out of your TV shows right?" Natasha took a moment to laugh, posing with Hyper Sensor of her partially deployed IS wrapped around her head.

"I think it's bit early for Silver Ranger's debut." Natasha's sole audience joked back, before taking measure of the tunnel they were in, "Where are we?"

"Hm... Looks like underground parking." Natasha looked as well, while her helmet broke apart and disappeared back into sub space, letting her hair spill out into open air again.

"That means the tunnel should lead outside, right?"

"I guess, but it's hard to tell which way."

"We could split up and check both ends."

That idea that Natasha wincing, "I don't really like the idea of separating anymore than we should already. I can take care of myself-"

"What, and I can't?" Ichika frowned.

"You're not the one that can punch out an SS' lights, worse come to worse."

"Look, I'm sure an SS won't open fire on something it registers as harmless."

"You want to bet on that?" Natasha brow beat the boy.

"Look, time's of the essence here. The faster we find which end here goes outside, the sooner we can get help."

The American sighed and relented, "Fine, we check both ends _only_, and we meet back under my little handmade skylight to report back, alright?"

"Alright."

"Good luck then. God knows you'll need way more of it than I do." Natasha said, before turning to jog down her end of the underground driving space. Ichika mirrored her actions and went his way.

Walking took an appreciable amount of time, for sure. The teenager was annoyed and vaguely skeptical of what the Yokohama Pacifico needed with so much tunneling. This wasn't exactly the a super-secret military bunker, after all.

It was hard to support this thought though, when gunshots echoed down the tunnel to Ichika. The teenager froze up, unsure what to make of the implied presence of a decidedly human operated anti-human weapon.

Should he turn around? Should he look? Why were there guns down here? Who was shooting?

Ichika vaguely affirmed to himself that he could be careful and hide, and so his curiosity won out. His movement down the tunnel was more ginger though. Eventually the echoes of an argument started to make themselves clear, too.

"...Fung! You piece of shit! I won't let you get away with this!"

"That's fine. I'll probably kill you once my contact confirms the _Byakushiki_ is the package, anyways."

"Who are you working for? Someone bought you from the Chinese. Is it the CIA? The SVR? Or some company too much money and too little vision?"

_The hell is going on..._

Ichika knew he was walking into something serious, but his legs weren't stopping, merely pushing him against the side of the tunnel for concealment. He then saw the end of the tunnel, which emptied out into some room. Most important, though, at the far end he could see shutters.

Now, if only the voices and guns weren't in the way.

The boy made it to the mouth of the tunnel, and carefully twisted his view around the corner. His breathing died.

The basics was that he was in a loading back of some kind, no doubt stuff could be quickly dropped off here and sent to the upper floors via elevator. Ichika himself was beside the raised platform. Nearby was some truck that had something in the back.

The specifics was that there were dead people. There were two or three men in suits just flopped across the floor and platform, in askew positions like they were abandoned toys. Their white shirts were stained red where holes had poked through them.

The only other place Ichika could look away at was at the other end of the loading platform, where there were suited men in sunglasses with hand guns and machine pistols pointed at suited men in sunglasses who were kneeling on the floor with their hands on their heads. He was hard pressed to figure out how one was supposed to tell them apart, besides the mention that presumably the group in charge had been working with the Chinese.

Ichika swung himself back around the corner, slamming his back against the concrete of the tunnel wall. At this point he prefer to listen in while out of view.

_I hope Rin doesn't have anything to do with this..._

"I'm not obligated to answer, but I assure you, I was bought with more than money. I'm working with people who are going to change the world."

"People who say that are always full of shit or ego."

"Say what you will, Emoto. The _Byakushiki_ is going to people who deserve it more than the Professor. They have better uses for it than some narcissistic hermit's trophy."

There were sounds of wheels stopping from outside the closed gate.

_Now what?_ Ichika couldn't help but groan to himself. The man named Fung seemed to have an idea, though.

"Looks like they're here. Tsai, get the shutters-"

The aluminum gates were smashed open from the outside. Within moments, the stumpy limbs of a Gargoyle punched through, along with the rest of the Gargoyle that kicked its way in.

"An SS...! ?"

Fung had obviously been under the impression he would be meeting people. From Ichika's position he could only see the robot stamp in, before the red sensors on its head scanned the entire room.

"What's an SS doing here! ? I thought I would meeting..."

Once the Gargoyle finished reading the room, it brought up its arm, the port on its end opening up.

"Wait-! This isn't what we agreed on-"

That was the last thing Ichika heard before he saw the SS spit red from its arm at the loading dock around the corner. Then there was a lot more shouting, screaming, and shooting. The Gargoyle was showered in bullets sparking off its sloped chest, while it continued to fire.

"Damn it!"

"Retreat! Go for the tunnel!"

"The head! Aim for the head!"

Ichika crushed himself against the wall, stock still and eyes wide open in shock. Men leapt off the edge and ran into the tunnel, firing behind them as the SS gave chase. Many of them barely noticed the flattened teenager, who could only look on in horror. One or two did, and had a moment of confusion and only that, since they were running for their lives.

It was only that much more surreal when the Gargoyle also wheeled past him with nary a indication it noticed him while it moved onwards.

The gunfire and beam shots echoed away.

Ichika how long it took until he peeled himself off, while weakly gasping at the carnage that just passed him by. Uneasily, he fully entered the loading bay.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but a part of him thought it would smell worse. But it was creepy how clean the air was. All it he could smell was a crispness of burn air, like it was sterilized.

The back wall had been peppered with black scorch marks and small melted potholes. There were doors of an elevator, too, as he had suspected, though the stainless steel was also filled with pock marks and carbon scoring.

Then there were what were left of the bodies, mostly surviving from the waist down. It was almost surreal that there was no smell there either. It looked almost just like burnt plastic but-

"Ugh!" Ichika wrenched his disturbed view towards the truck and the smashed shutters. Anything but the charred shapes. (It was odd, the flatbed had been untouched, along with the wrapped object atop it.)

_What the hell am I supposed to do now...?_

There was no way he could head back into the tunnel, now. On the other hand, Ichika wasn't going to consider this massacred room as a "safe place" by any means. The elevator wouldn't work with the power out, and the only other way was outside through the hole in the gate where, as far as Ichika could tell, Rin was still at, tearing the place up with god knows how many other robots in a duel to the death.

Great. What the hell _was_ he supposed to do?

Just then, the boy picked up a faint moan in the corner of the room. He turned in the direction of the source of the noise, shocked.

"Someone's still alive?"

Without any more provocation, Ichika clambered up onto the top of the loading dock. He did his best to ignore the "bodies". At the other end of the rectangular platform, one man still yet breathed as he lay limp on his back.

"Hey! Hang in there!" He cried, running over. As Ichika stood over the survivor, he winced. "Injured" was putting it lightly. The man might have not been gruesomely atomized like the other unfortunates, but he was still left with the entire right side of his upper body as a burnt mess that was hard to distinguish between burnt fabric or flesh. There was nothing of the arm up to the shoulder too.

But he was alive.

"Come on, I'm not leaving you here!" Ichika said, as he lifted the man up to a seated position.

"...Wha..." The injured man groaned, sunglasses falling off his sweat streaked face. Unfocused eyes managed to open and take sight of everything around him. He turned his head towards Ichika, who had just gathered his under the man's shoulder, and lifted him up.

"Come on, stand! I can get you out of here if you can just walk a little."

"Kid... no... get out... the robot..."

"It's gone down the tunnel! We've got a bit of time..." Ichika spoke, as he half dragged the limply staggering suited man beside him, down the platform. He needed some way down...

"It'll be back... it's after the _Byakushiki..._ in the truck... get away from it..." The man managed to groan out.

Too late.

The warning came just seconds before the Gargoyle drove back out of the tunnel, apparently done with the rest of the escaping party. Making a sharp turn as it reached the shutters, it faced the dock again, and swept the scanner across the room again.

Ichika stood frozen as he felt the red line sweep over him and the man around his shoulders.

The SS finished, and promptly raised its arm again at the two.

Everything that happened in the next minute was sheer instinct.

"Gah!" Was all Orimura Ichika could frightfully scream, right before he swung the man he held around, almost like a weight, so they turned about face. Ichika kicked back and hurled himself backwards as the red beam seared the air above and beside him and collided with the closed metal doors of the elevator. The scorched steel turned a bright red and yellow before it promptly exploded.

After that, it was just Ichika's brain as it struggled to register everything. Everything was loud noise slamming through his eardrums and bouncing through his mind, everything was hot wind washing over his body, everything was bright light, everything was spinning, everything was his three seconds of screaming and losing track of his surroundings before he found himself crashing onto the dusty back of a flat bed truck.

The man was dropped Somewhere. That was all the teenager could register through the utter pain he felt. Ichika's head hurt as much as his chest, which raced with the horrid sensation of being on fire.

"A...Aah...!" Was all Ichika heard himself whimpering. Then he heard machine noises.

Wincing, he saw the SS approach the dock from the side next to the tunnel entrance, before one leg stepped upwards and placed itself on the top. In a humanlike agility, the Gargoyle crawled onto the platform and started walking along it towards the flatbed truck Ichika was thrown onto.

Ichika gave a strange, desperate hiss, and willed his body to wriggle backwards, away from it. Anywhere. Somewhere. Damn it.

Sliding back, Ichika made out that he was moving under the tarps of the thing that had been tied down. He barely understood what he was doing though. Through utter pain sitting on his chest, all he cared about was hiding. As long as he was out of view, maybe it wouldn't.

There as a second of darkness and stuffy air before he heard the cords snapping loose and fabric tearing, and suddenly the safety blanket Ichika found for himself was thrown to the side. Standing above him was a soulless colossus called a Sub Stratos, that peered down with a harsh row of eyes. It started drawing its arm back.

It wasn't even going to shoot him. The Gargoyle was merely going to crush him in a punch.

Orimura Ichika bared his teeth, whimpering, afraid.

_Not like this... Not like this...!_

_I can't die like this...!_

_Everyone is still..._

Ichika half flailed, half crawled, trying to find a way out. In his wild gesticulating, one of his sweat soaked palms slammed into cold metal. He felt something in his head.

**[Registrant Detected. Hm...]**

_Wha..._

Everything went white.

Ichika didn't know what happened. The world simply disappeared, and now he was in...

He was in "White", was all he could tell. The teenager looked down and noticed he was still dressed as he had been. Well, including what apparently were burns across his chest... except what had been blinding pain before was simply... gone.

"What's going on?" Ichika muttered. The something in his head picked up again. It was... chanting.

**[Come on, hot girl, hot girl, hot girl, hot girl... Are you shitting me! ?]**

The exclamation made Ichika jerk with surprise. From what, he wasn't sure, but the curse came out of nowhere.

In an absolute featureless white, it was impossible to gauge distance, but the boy nonetheless saw someone move towards him. Or himself towards the person. All he knew was that they were standing apart in the distance, and now the distance was shortened to one for talking.

Ichika found himself face to face with a man probably only a few years older than him. He couldn't be dressed any more as appropriately white as everything else in the room. Compared to Ichika's crumpled and burnt suit, the other was a pristine white leather jacket atop a pale blue shirt. The jeans and shoes also were as starkly white, and it even went to a pair of fancy sunglasses with the lenses as indomitably immaculate. Even the shocks of hair the young man had decided to be bleached. The only other thing that wasn't white on the man was probably his (predictably) fair skin.

The interloper into everything in the past minute scowled.

**[Six years of eating mothballs, and the first person to interface with me is a GUY?] **He... it... groaned, raising his... its hands in exasperation at the same time Ichika felt the something groan in his head.

"...What."

* * *

The battle took to the air.

Passive Inertia Control systems let the _Shenlong _and the _Uchigane Hana-B_ drift and dance about in the lightless sky, closing in and backing away intervals as they fought, blade on blade.

Huang Lingyin never expected to see an Uchigane model go flying, with their unwieldy forms, but here she was, fighting a terrorist who followed after her without a second thought.

**[EMITTER EFFICIENCY: 33%]**

Rin felt a growl in her throat. Things were not going well. When the enemy IS pilot had slashed down on her, the Chinese girl couldn't do anything but take the brunt of the blow, sacrificing a massive chunk of her shield strength, which the black IS continued to steal from. Even then, Rin had thought the blades would have simply broken through and sliced her in three pieces.

_She's doesn't care if I get killed, does she?_

The problem now were the arms. Now that Rin understood the _Hana-B_'s schtick, she could see that the enemy probably had up to eight swords that could all independently work, with each pair angled around the body. With the Uchigane's stability and the Hyper Sensor's 360 coverage, it was impossible to find a blind spot. It was like trying to fight a whole squad all at once, that could go from blistering wedge shaped assault to a tight defensive circle in an instant.

More than that, she was _good_, plain and simple.

Rin shook her head, breaking herself of her reverie.

_I have to beat her...!_ _I'm the only one here who can take her!_

Camilla swooped in at her again, with the four swords waving about at her front. Rin narrowed her eyes at the approach, and seemingly by that command, the ports of the Dragon Cannons snapped open again. This time the air around the shoulder mounted guns began to compress and warp until it turned white hot. The very visible, and much more explosive shells were spat out at terrorist IS with the same near rapidity as before.

Camilla harrumphed presumptuously. The middle pair of arms snapped open with their own swords, and a set of six began slashing at the hyper compressed air bullets, breaking many apart and creating a gap in the shots wide enough that she could starting dodging many more as she continued to close in.

"Deciding to trade predictability for power, huh? Pathetic. All your doing is making your attacks easier to read...!"

It took another moment for the Uchigane to be in striking distance. At the same moment, Rin had slammed the ends of _Souten Gagetsu_ together, where the butt of the handles locked together, turning her swords into a double ended halberd, particularly in the make of the _guan do_. With both hands on the shaft, Rin gave her combined weapon several fast whirls and a roar as she brought it swinging at the black suited opponent.

Two swords caught the attack on their flats and brought it sliding above Camilla's head. Another four struck out at Rin. Boosters on the bottom of the _Shenlong_'s feet fired up, and the jets managed to bring Rin out of the immediate swing of the attack as she backed away, twirling. Camilla gave chase, swinging away. Huang brought up the _Souten_ and rapidly parried, her two blades levering back and forth in succession, beating back the storm of thinner katana.

Unable to breakthrough, Rin slammed back one more katana and then ducked in low to the side, circling around Camilla and away to her back. The arms ringing the side merely orienting and swung wildly after her while the pilot spun after her. Regardless, the _Shenlong _dropped enough altitude during that the strikes missed.

Rin found herself glaring up at the terrorist, who's mouth had remained unmoving, while she slowly dropped back down through the air to match the Chinese pilot's current height.

_It's like trying to break into a circle... but that means she still has two blind spots._

Two dead spaces where the efficiency of her swings were weaker, and thus was easier to break through. One was directly above her head. The problem was that that region still fell under the Hyper Sensor's view, no matter how rarely observed. The range of the swords could also still stab upwards. It couldn't cover the same area as a slash, but it was fairly sufficient at protecting a small area like the dome of the head.

Still...

"There's only one thing to do... break through!"

Rin charged onwards and upwards. Camilla followed the motion with her eyes for a second before she flew up to try and keep pace with her. However, the Uchigane was an 2nd Generation machine, mass produced with uniform specifications, and further weighed down by the unique customizations. Try as she could, the _Hana-B_ simply accelerated slower than the _Shenlong_ letting Rin gain the height advantage.

"Take this!"

The Dragon Cannons spat their burning white air again with an even greater ferocity than ever, downwards at the terrorist. The _Hana-B_ came to a dead halt in the same instant the last two arms at the back of the machine were brought forth to aid in slicing down a veritable wall of concussive shots.

"Is she aiming for my head...?" Camilla muttered to herself. It was difficult to even see the Chinese IS through the white bullets. A smoke screen like would naturally be followed by a dive bomb then.

The barrage died out and Camilla brought her upper body into a defensive stance, waiting for Rin to dive like a stone at her.

She found herself staring at empty air.

"Wha-?"

For the first time, Camilla had been caught off guard.

"Not from above? Then-"

She heard Rin's roar from behind and below. The black suited pilot managed to turn around enough to look over her shoulder and see a missile of a Chinese IS charge upwards towards her legs, both hands holding the heavy halberd blade above her head.

_The one place her blades won't reach in time! I don't care how fresh her shields are! At this speed, the Souten are gonna tear through that fucking IS!_

"Got you! Did you take me for an idiot! ?"

Camillla looked down. Then snorted.

"Yes."

The flanges on the rear of the Uchigane's skirt swung upwards, and hinges swung out two arms that were hidden underneath at the same time pincers lashed out with katana that formed out of mid air.

Rin couldn't evade in time and two slashes neatly went on either side of her _Souten Gagetsu_, and ripped into the armor of her long gauntlets.

The attack took all the proverbial air from the _Shenlong_, which merely tumbled downwards out of the air until it slammed back into the pavement with enough force to send dust and at least two cars up into the air. At the bottom, Rin winced within the fresh crater she had made.

"Shield check..."

**[EMITTER EFFICENCY: 12%]**

"Are you kidding me-"

The _Uchigane Hana-B_ slammed down on her, feet first. Huang only had enough time to gasp and bring the shaft of her halberd between her chest and Camilla to absorb the impact. The gauge told her the shields lost another three percent regardless. Rin felt that change more than she was told. The shield might have saved her chest from having gotten caved it, but she felt the equivalent of a brick being hurled into her chest.

Her mouth opened for an instant in a soundless cry of anguish.

Camilla looked down, nonchalant, "Nice try, but I've seen that trick enough times. Fireworks can be seen from all angles, after all."

"V-very funny." Rin hissed.

The arms of the terrorist's IS closed up, and the weapons retracted, leaving her with just two swords again. One of them had its gripped reversed so that Camilla held the long blade above Rin's head.

"There's only one way you'll live, pilot. Deactivate your IS and surrender."

"Ha, I won't roll over for you..."

"Then I'll kill you. You barely have any shield strength left, and Absolute Defense or no, if I try, I will puncture through a weak last ditch survival technique."

Rin glared back.

"I won't say it again. Deactivate your IS. You've lost. Don't turn it into a KIA."

* * *

"Who are you... where am I?" Ichika looked around himself, still utterly disoriented by his current location, which was not at all helped by the company, "I was in that loading room... and then that SS... and then I touched that..."

**[You touched my Infinite Stratos. Right now you're interfacing with a browser that's links up to my intranet. It's for debugging work and shit like that.]** The "man" responded. Then frowned, **[Goddamnit, why did it have to be a guy...]**

"Interfacing...? This doesn't make any sense..." Ichika gave a perplex frown of his own, "This is just my mind... then, I'm going to be killed outside! I gotta get out!"

The white figure waved him off, **[Relax. We've got time to talk. For a while, anyways. Your mind's connected to my processes right now. Your 'thinking' right now is working probably a thousand times faster here... SS, huh? Wonder what is going outside.]**

The man paced off, humming to himself. Ichika followed after.

"Wait, who are you?You're connected to the IS? Where are you connected from? You need to contact the army or something, this building is under attack-"

**[I'm not 'connected' from anywhere. I've been in this Core's hardware from the beginning. I can't tell what's going on outside the frame of this IS, besides slipping into the Internet, and the connection's been Dial Up shitty for a fifteen fucking billion years! And for some reason, I haven't even been able to get on for the past hour. Damn technicians!]** The man gestured wildly, complaining.

"I've been telling you, the building is under attack from rogue SS! That's why the power went out-"

Ichika stopped.

"...Wait, you're _in_ the IS Core?"

**[Yeah.]**

Ichika's squinted as he cautiously edged out his next words, "...You're an AI?"

The man gagged, **[No. Don't ever call me that, gah. You know what AI stands for? Artificial Intelligence. That's short hand for a bunch of morons going "oh, let's throw together some scripts together and pretend it's smart!" An SS is run by an AI. Video game characters are run by AI! I was formed here, and I grew up here.**

**[I'm an Electronic Consciousness. So there!]**

"But... IS Cores shouldn't have a personality like you! They shouldn't be self aware! How do you even have an image inside a computer network! ?" Ichika muttered to himself.

**[Well then, that means I Am The Shit.]** He smirked, giving digital flexes to his digital biceps, **[I told you. I grew up in here. I may not be perfectly connected to the outside world, but six years empty years is long enough for a consciousness to learn and design an identity. Now a question from me, since I am have learning routines, capiche?]**

"Uh..."

**[You are a guy, right?]**

"Last I checked."

**[THEN WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SUCCESFULLY LINKING UP TO AN INFINITE STRATOS SYSTEM! ? WHY YOU AND NOT SOME SMOKING HOT CHICK! ?]**

Ichika nearly backed away (however that worked here) from the Electronic Consciousness, before realizing something important.

"...Wait, that's impossible! I can't be linking to an IS! It doesn't work like that!"

**[No shit it doesn't work like that, and I've been keeping up! The hell are you doing it?]**

"I don't know! I didn't even know what was going on until now! I can't be interfacing with an IS! This can't be an IS then! This must be... I don't know, not an IS!"

**[I've been stuck in this thing without sleeping like people do.] **The white image indignantly returned, **[I've run through the diagnostics on this thing a lot, and I'm pretty sure that this is the Infinite Stratos called the **_**Byakushiki**_**. You must be some misoriented motherfucker then!]**

"What! That's ridiculous! I'm a guy!"

**[Well... the only way to prove that is to read your biometrics, I guess.]**

"Biometrics huh... shit!" Ichika cursed.

**[Ha! You admit it!] **The digital man pointed. Ichika shook his head, annoyed.

"Shut up about that! I'm wasting my time! Out there, an SS is going to kill me! People are attack the convention center! My friend's fighting out there!"

**[The point, please.]**

Ichika went nearly slack jawed.

"I mean, I need your help! You're an IS right? If I can interface, that means I can pilot this thing, right?"

The Consciousness gave the image of a frown, **[Oh, no fucking way. I'm not going to register you and sign this machine over to some dweeb I've never met before.]**

"What! You... you can't just say no! I'm about to die out there! I need to get away, even for a second! Just temporarily-"

**[You're talking to a program here. You want me to quote death rates to you all day? Because the point is that I'm not moved. I can't just 'temporarily' sign this thing over to you. I'll be stuck with you until various Somethings happen, none of them voluntary. Who are you? I don't know you. You think I'm going to give an IS to some stranger who's desperate to survive? Next thing I know, I'll be accessory to some whacko trying to knock over a city and then this IS, me inside, will be fucking gutted.]**

"No! It won't be like that! Damn it, you're in danger too! I don't know what's going on, but some man said the SS are trying to capture this IS, as well! If you don't activate with a pilot, you'll be pried apart for research, I know it! Hell, just you by yourself...!" The Ichika tried to explain, arms held in front of him, almost desperate.

The program folded its arms, **[I can't trust that fact you just conveniently let out. I barely know what's going on outside besides the fact your stupid meatsack ass is all over the physical frame of this machine. It doesn't matter where I'm taken. If they try to access my without my confirmation, I'll just fry them. As long as I'm not being used by YOU, I'm safest.]**

"That's not true... that's not true, damn it!" Ichika shouted, frustrated.

**[My priority is the security of myself and this machine. You're not securing it. I'm sorry, but I can't help you.]**

"Me? It's not about me!" The teenager growled, rage building in him, "Damn it, you selfish bastard! I need your help! Infinite Stratos are supposed to protect people! The first time you sortied was to stop a missile attack! What's the point of you being around if you can't stop even one person from dying! I'm going to die! People in this building are in danger! Rin's in danger! For the first time in my life... I can use an IS for more than just a damn show, and you're not going to help me! I can't believe it! Even the IS are useless!

Infinite Stratos is fucking goddamn bullshit! Fuck you, Tabane!"

Ichika found himself collapsing to the ground. His head lolled to look at his lap. He gave up. He was dead. It was now just slower than ever.

For once, the program was silent. The next words were the quietest he spoke yet.

**[You know Shinonono Tabane...?]**

"I did, once." Ichika muttered.

**[Who ARE you?]**

"Orimura Ichika. Thanks for asking, bastard."

**[Orimura Ichika, huh... Ori-mur-a... Ichi-kaaa...]**

The program practically tasted the name first, before speaking again.

**[You know, I've read up a lot of new about the Infinite Stratos while I've been sitting here. The shit's retarded, like you say. Everyone just talks about military applications, deterrence, shows of force, pissing contests, how flashy we are or how to reverse engineer the machinery. I'm glad nobody knows about me if that's the world I had to be a part of. People only talk about the White Knight Incident as how powerful an IS is, and how far IS have gone since.]**

"Damn it..."

**[I'm part of a Core. You know Tabane made me. Tabane hoped that when the IS was released, people would know how to use us. But... yeah. But you're different.]**

Ichika looked up, "What?"

**[Orimura. The building outside really is under attack? You're under attack? I'm under attack?]**

"Yes! And we have to stop them!"

**[Really? That's why you'll pilot? You'll pilot to save people? You'll use an IS to protect people? I'll be used right?]**

The boy seemed to deflate at the idea of a "right way". He sat for a moment, wondering what to say, but in the end, there was only one thing.

"I don't know how to use you in a right way. I told you, I never used an IS before. But I keep being protected by my friends... I can't be helpless anymore, not with this opportunity! I have to help!"

**[Right. Let's go then.]**

"...Huh?"

The Electronic Consciousness walked the distance to Ichika's seated position, and pulled him up by the arm. The sunglasses concealed face looked at the young man's straight into his eyes.

**[I changed my mind. I'll register you as the **_**Byakushiki**_**'s pilot.]**

"Just like that?"

**[I'm a program. I think fast.]** The man answered, before grinning, almost predatorily** [Besides, it's been years since someone really remembered how I flew once. If I'm gonna stretch my wings, I think I'll do it with some fan for my roadie, heh heh.]**

Ichika jerked back slightly, confused, "Since you flew...? You mean... who are you?"

The white consciousness raised an open hand, waiting, **[I'm awesome, remember? And awesomeness has a name. I'm Travis White.]**

"...That is not a name I had in mind for you." Ichika mumbled.

His hand grasped Travis'. They shook. The Core shrugged.

**[Hey, it's my name. You'll get used to it. Let's bounce, cowboy!]**

"Huh-"

**[REGISTRANT: ICHIKA. O. - ACCEPTED.]**

* * *

The top of the flatbed truck suddenly shone with a white brilliance that practically blinded the whole room with its glow.

The Gargoyle on the truck didn't care, and proceeded to eliminate the incongruity that threatened the safe retrieval of the target. It punched downwards.

A blue clawed hand caught the stumpy limb.

* * *

"... Don't turn it into a KIA." Camilla said.

A second after, the side of the convention center exploded with a thunder of shattering glass and flying concrete smoke.

The pilot of the _Uchigane Hana-B_twisted her head in the direction of the commotion, confused. She did not recall a Gargoyle being able to do that sort of damage.

In the instant Camilla turned her head, Rin saw her opening. The boosters on the _Shenlong_ fired, and Rin skittered out of the crater. The terrorist, unable to keep her balance, jumped off the Chinese girl as she waved her halberd, fending off the black IS, landing some feet away as Rin slid back to her feet.

"You're persistent." Camilla simply noted.

"Shield or no shield, I'll take you on! I move because I got blood in my body, not because the IS tells me I can!" Rin spat, hefting the _Souten _by her side.

"That's respectable. Then I won't kill you. I'll just take you down." The terrorist nodded. The arms on the _Hana-B _broke into bloom again, raising swords above the pilot.

Rin would have prepared to fight again when she heard a familiar voice.

"Rin! Wait! I'm helping!"

_Wait... isn't that...?_

It also came from above. Rin looked up. Camilla looked up.

Descending from above was a rather plain looking, gray toned IS. In it was...

_Ichika? But that... what? Huh? WHAT._

Huang Lingyin had no good way to phrase what was now the second witnessing of what was supposed to be impossible. She settled for something simple to capture the emotion of the moment.

"What the hell."

* * *

A/N: Ugh. That was a lot of work. In for a penny, in for a pound.

There was a bit of oversight on my part during the planning of the attack. Apparently phone lines actually still work during power loss, due to varying redundancies and safeguards. I had thought of using an EMP weapon, but I had decided blacking out the entire area might have been more thorough. I'm wrong, of course. Ah well, narrative license, though the lesson here is to make sure to do enough research, and never believe what you see in stories.

As a bit of an aside, the Uchigane Hana-B, as one will inevitably no doubt guess, takes cues from certain signature rides across the omnipresent Gundam series. I was thinking particularly of the Seravee Gundam and The O. So yeah, no beating around the bush there.

10/8/2012 - For Dinsdale: Fixed the error. Of course, we can always pretend this is a parallel world where Henry's evil goatee wearing twin brother replaced him.


	3. TIGER

**3: TIGER**

* * *

Power.

All encompassing, suffusing raw power was what Orimura Ichika felt himself being drowned in as the _Byakushiki_ awakened.

The burst of light that flooded the room. The armor that was emerging from thin air, folding out and locking in around torso and his head. The pain seared across his chest dulling, freeing his mind.

He could feel his senses expanding outward, beyond his own eyes and ears. The Hyper Sensor reached all about the room, and his consciousness was receiving a river of carefully accumulated and controlled data.

Were it seen on the screen, a person would only catch an unreadable stream of numbers and letters, a metric ton of compiled data that couldn't be read in any other way, or by anything other than another computer. But here inside the _Byakushiki_, on some intrinsic level Ichika was _feeling_ all this data and it was making sense to him. The enhanced senses were only a symptom of this effect. He saw the ambient temperature of the melting metal doors of the elevator in front of him, as he heard the raw numbers tell him air fluctuations and wind speed. The touch of his feet was detecting the traction value of the truck underneath him.

There was just _so much_, and the teenager could hold it all in his consciousness in tandem with the machine's circuitry.

_Is this what it feels like to use an Infinite Stratos? Is this what all the pilots get to feel? This is...amazing._

**[Uh, Ichika? I know this experience makes any first time pilot all warm and tingly, but there's this robot about to punch you.]**

The Moment ended with that announcement echoing inside his head. Ichika remembered Travis White, and then the reason he was in an IS to begin with. The light display of the new pilot's coronation died out, leaving him crouching in his great machine while a Gargoyle stood above him, "fist" raised to slam down on his dead.

Ichika felt his breath stop even while reached out, and saw the blue claw of the _Byakushiki_'s hand catch the blow effortlessly. The teenager grunted with effort to restrain the arm he had caught, while the Gargoyle continued to single mindedly press down, trying to push the Infinite Stratos back down. Neither refused to give way.

Several seconds of this stalemate eventually caused the Gargoyle to twist its posture, and Ichika saw the other arm of the SS come down to bear on it, the end of the stumpy limb glowing and preparing to fire.

**[Ichika!]**

"I know!" The boy shouted to himself as much as to the IS, as a thought surged to the forefront of his consciousness.

_MOVE._

By command, the man and machine moved as one off the truck and towards the Gargoyle's chest. Ichika's free arm batted the aim of robot's weapon out of his way, before he threw his shoulder into its steel chest. The pilot felt the flight systems behind his back activate, and with his yell, started pushing the Gargoyle back at near top speed. The SS fired wildly past Ichika's shoulder all the while, cutting the cabin of the truck in half while it traveled all of a few feet into the melted opening where the elevator doors once were. Scraping through the cooled edges of the hole, the Gargoyle was thrown into the empty elevator shaft, the lift somewhere else above them, while Ichika was right behind with one hand still on its arm and the _Byakushiki_'s shoulder plating leaving an ever deepening depression on its chest.

The moment the pair slammed into the gritty back wall of the elevator shaft, they ascended, still struggling. The _Byakushiki _ground the already battered SS against the concrete and steel grating, leaving a trail of sparks and horrid screeching.

"I won't let any of you attack this building anymore!" Ichika shouted, glaring at the red sensors lining the Gargoyle's head. The machine didn't have any vocal response, but the arm that was over the teenager's shoulder began to fire again, inaccurate rounds wildly planting explosion after flaming explosion into the walls of the elevator shaft around them. It was perhaps some stupid attempt by the machine to keep attacking its aggressor. All it did was cover the two in blinding light and crunching metal.

Eventually one blast caught Ichika off guard. Even with his senses as sharpened as they were, all he could hear was the cry of his voice and feeling himself somehow tumbling through air until he met cold ground. As he pushed himself to his feet, he realized the last explosion ejected them through another pair of doors and sent them rolling onto an upper floor of the convention center. At the far end of the hall, against the glass exterior wall, the silhouette of the Gargoyle jerked to its feet, groaning with damaged machinery. It raised its beam weapon encrusted arms with the same tired motion as ever.

"I'm getting tired…" Ichika muttered to himself.

_Move._

The boy flew off the ground, racing towards the Gargoyle with one fist pulled back.

"…of having to look at you!"

The Gargoyle opened fire, two thick red beams reaching out to try and strike the pilot as he crossed the few meters between them. Whether it was luck or instinct, the _Byakushiki_ had pulled dangerously close to the floor, letting the shots pass overhead of Ichika's body, merely scoring glancing shots on the shield of the IS that didn't impact on anything vital.

Despite the ferocity of the laser weaponry, for Ichika within his machine, his body couldn't feel any heat bleed through the transparent protection that conformed to his shape. His consciousness, however, registered being _told_ by the sensors all over his IS that something of several thousand degrees had passed over the top of his head, and he felt himself accept that fact, in a sort of "by the way" manner. It was strange feeling such things.

But it kept his mind clear on the target that was now in right in front of him. Still accelerating, Ichika roared and brought his blue armored fist forward, slamming it directly into the center of the already crumpled chest armor. The steel gave way and Ichika's fist impaled the Gargoyle as the rest of him slammed the robot into the thick glass wall, sending white cracks across the surface. In the same instant, the final abuse of the SS caused some internal functions to ignite something. The two were consumed in a final explosion as the Gargoyle detonated, throwing smoke and loose furniture everywhere, and shattering the glass of near the entire side of the building from the shockwave.

From the smoke, Ichika burst free, shedding a few fragments of carbonized Gargoyle that stuck to his armor.

**[Ha, ha! You totally kicked its ass, cowboy. Man, it feels good to stretch out a power system again.]**

Now that he was out of immediate danger, Ichika subtly jerked in surprise when he heard the diagnostic connection in his mind talk aloud again.

"Travis? I can hear you?"

**[Yeah, looks it.] **The Electronic Consciousness' "voice" echoed, **[You can just think back, though. I can catch focused surface thoughts.]**

"I'll keep that in mind."

**[So whaddya think, Ichika? How's the IS?]**

"It's… well…"

The teenager looked at himself as he continued to glide upward through the air. He was covered in gray armor with blue accents. Touching his head for a second, he could feel a metal circlet, no doubt what the _Byakushiki_ used to generate the Hyper Sensor for the pilot. A glance behind him saw a pair of small gray pod-like wings above his back. All in all, it was impressive in the eyes of a first time pilot, but when it came to Orimura Ichika, who had been up to his eyeballs in IS designs for years…

"…It's not very white for a 'White Expression', is it? And it's kind of… plain looking. Don't IS have larger machinery?"

**[Oh sure, complain now, huh? And you were like 'I'M INTERFACED! I AM THE ONE!' five minutes ago. Such a human male thing, 'Why are my gravity units smaller than the ones being used by a girl? I feel insecure!']**

Ichika blushed with embarrassment, though he wasn't sure why. "I'm just saying! 'Beggars can't be choosers', still."

**[…I'm not sure if you just apologized or insulted me right there. Eh. By the way, partner, you're rather natural at flying for a first time pilot. And, you know, the handicap of not being a hot chick.]**

The boy looked around at the black sky, under which the stars were beginning to faintly emerge, freed from the glare of light pollution. He realized that he was in fact, aloft under his own power, and it was really actual wind in his face.

_Holy crap, I _am_ flying._

"Wow. Should it be this easy? I thought flight was directed by imaging a pyramidal shape… I mean, that's what I read, but I'm not even thinking about this…"

**[Well, whatever you're not thinking, keep not thinking it. I don't want to waste any processes on being your personal chauffeur.]**

Ichika was a little confused at the statement and the intellectual in him had to ask, "Why would you? Shouldn't the COOS handle process priority delegation?"

**[Coos? The hell's a coos?]**

"Combat Oriented Operating System?"

Travis was oddly silent on that.

"You know, the basic software that's installed in every Core? The thing that regulates an IS' systems?" _Byakushiki's_ pilot couldn't help but sarcastically quip to the voice sharing his head.

**[Uh, I never saw that in here. Then again, with the amount of space I take up in this Core…]**

"Are you telling me I'm going flying all this without any automatic diagnostics or HUD!?"

**[Partner, relax. The ride's still got HUD and diagnostic programs, even if there's no coos-thing running them. It's not like you're going to be riding without a dashboard. Besides, you got something better than any OS. You got me!]**

"You're going to make me crash and I'm not even going to know why."

**[You have serious trust issues, buddy.]**

Ichika snorted before turning his attention back to the ground, trying to find any sign of where his friend was. Given the amount of debris and chaos that had been thrown about, though, it was difficult to tell what anything was.

**[Hold on a sec. I'm collecting the local IFFs. I'll put them on.]**

True to Travis' promise, a HUD, green lines and all, then materialized in Ichika's vision. He saw multiple boxes superimposed on objects, tagged with "AM-9 Gargoyle". Further back, in the center of a car park, there were two machines fighting, quickly boxed and tagged as IS units. One had just thrown the other off and was boosting backwards to gain breathing room. The black one was summarily written off as "Unknown", but the other…

**[Ix-88: SHENLONG]**

Ichika's eyes widened, "That's Rin!"

**[Ah, the objective.]**

The two figures raised their weapons, preparing to fight again.

"Rin! Wait! I'm helping!" Ichika shouted as hard as he could, trying to interrupt the impending battle. It worked, given both girls down below turned their gaze up at the boy as he descended. He could clearly see the face of his friend, inside her Chinese IS.

She had a moment of shock, before it quickly solidified in the greatest deadpan expression Ichika had ever seen her give.

"What the hell."

The sudden comment threw off Ichika's landing. It ended up being more accurate to say he stopped his fall with the ground, which cracked around the steel of the IS. After stumbling to control his crash landing, he turned to Rin, perturbed.

"What's that supposed to mean, 'what the hell'? I'm here to help!"

"Ichika, what are you doing…" The Chinese girl began, before amending, "…What are you doing in an IS?"

"I just am, alright? I don't think now's a good time for an interview…!" Ichika said, twisting his head towards the situation at hand. Both of them turned back towards the terrorist Camilla. While her blades were out, she was seemingly frozen, her mouth frozen in a sign of shock.

"That's the… You… what are you doing in that IS?" Camilla growled.

**[I'm picking up constant data chatter on black chick's ride. She must be the one controlling those SS around here.] ** Travis' voice pointed out helpfully.

"Got it." Ichika responded under his breath.

Across the car park, the Hana-B's pilot started pacing over to them threateningly, "Get out of that IS…!"

Ichika and Rin took a few defensive steps backwards, matching. It didn't take much for Ichika to put two and two together that they really wanted the _Byakushiki_.

"Rin, how's your shields?" He quickly whispered sideways to his friend.

"Bad. Nine percent."

"Neither of us can take her down, then…"

"Then what?"

"She wants me. I'm going to try and lead her away from here. Try and get away and help the people inside the building escape."

The resistance to the idea was immediate on both sides.

"Are you crazy, Ichika! ?" Rin turned, spluttering.

**[Are you out of your goddamn mind! ?]**

"Don't try and be a hero now, you can't take them all yourself!"

**[Do I need to point out this ride hasn't shifted yet? Are you seriously planning on taking this**_** kuroi**_** bitch with your bare hands while the '**_**shiki**_**'s still in kiddie mode?]**

The boy waved off the complaints, "There's no time to argue-!"

There really wasn't.

"_DID YOU HEAR ME? GET OUT OF THAT STRATOS RIGHT NOW!"_

The violent snarl coming their way was the final warning they got before Rin and Ichika turned and reacted just in time. A quick boost from the sides of their IS was enough to send them leaping away from the _Uchigane Hana-B_ which had dived down at them, all swords swinging with enough force to carve a massive gouge in the concrete where they were.

As the _Shenlong_ slid away, Rin saw her friend's gray metal form take to the air, "Ichika!"

"Go! I'll distract them!" His voice shouted back before the _Byakushiki _flung itself towards Yokohama's darkened cityscape.

**[Fly, monkey, fly!]** The voice echoed in the pilot's head.

"Where do you think you're going! ?" Camilla shouted at Ichika's retreating figure, before bringing her arm to her mouth, speaking into the armor, "Every asset! Converge on me, right now! The HVT has been sighted and is mobile! Neutralize on sight!"

The terrorist in her IS leapt into the air after the escaping boy, while every Gargoyle in the area perked up from the relayed orders. As one, they wheeled out, giving chase along the ground. With the _Byakushiki _up and about, neither Huang Lingyin nor the convention center was worth even a further second of consideration.

"Damn it…" Rin cursed to herself, watching. But she couldn't help any more, not with the condition of her shields. The only thing she could do was find some reinforcements that would be fresher than her. With that, she raced back towards the Yokohama Pacifico.

* * *

**[I gotta say, Ichika, the objective's a cute little spitfire. I'd give her 4638 points.]**

Ichika was _not_ going to have this conversation. He remained steadfastly silent while the numbers for wind speed registered through the shields of the IS and into his ears. (4638 points out of how many, though?)

**[Alright, I see, she's off limits. Fine, but why are we going into the city? Gargoyles aren't aquatic; we coulda waited it out in the middle of the bay.]**

"I can wait out an SS, but not an IS. If I waited over the water, she would have taken me down by herself." Ichika replied this time, "We need to buy time, hide in the cityscape."

The _Byakushiki's_ flight path weaved deeper into the darkness of the powerless regions of Yokohama's urban environment, marked by towering glass obelisks that would have been financial and business centers, and the black pathways that soared and intersected through the air: highways that might have led to Yokohama's various entertainment venues.

**[All the same, I hope you have an explanation for how you're going to fend them all off in kiddie mode.]**

"I...uh...I thought I could keep them chasing me." Ichika answered lamely. His plan was painfully narrow and single-stepped, in retrospect, "I took down a Gargoyle easily enough."

**[Not in an unshifted ride you're not-incoming eight 'o clock high!]**

The boy twisted his IS to the side in time to see Camilla already caught up to him, wielding her cutlery shop fervently. She was closing in fast.

"Ah! Drop! Drop!"

The gravity control systems on the _Byakushiki_ cut out, making him fall out of the air like a stone. The sudden change in vector let him narrowly miss Camilla's swing from all her blades, which instead tore a long hole into the side of an office block, sending glass everywhere.

Ichika's bared his teeth as he somersaulted in his fall, bringing his feet to point towards the ground below. The flight systems reactivated just in time to slow him down and send him skating mere inches off the ground, dancing around the cars parked in the streets.

There was no respite now, as on an overhead bridge, several Gargoyles suddenly wheeled into view, their arms pointed over the railing and suddenly Ichika's drive forward was complicated by explosions about him.

Ichika might have shouted or swore something under his breath, but at the moment, the only thing that was on his mind was breaking through the blockade. There was no time to turn tail.

As he flew in towards the underside of the bridge, another Gargoyle rolled into view on street level, it's arms spread out. Ichika was moving too quick to alter his straight path.

"Oh crap-"

The _Byakushiki_ collided into the Gargoyle, sending the two past under the bridge and spinning across the other half of the street as the Sub Stratos wrapped its block-like arms around the gray-tinted IS in a crushing bear hug, refusing to let go.

"Damn it! Get off!" Ichika swore, as he wriggled in the vice-like hold. The robot fought to remain upright, the ball wheels of its feet screeching on the pavement to fight the IS' inertia. As they twisted in their impromptu tango, the _Byakushiki_'s pilot found himself looking towards the bridge; the other SS had moved to the other side of it, their guns aimed at the pair. They seemed more than willing to fire on their own if it meant catching the HVT in the crossfire.

Ichika turned and glared at his captor before he struggled harder to free himself. He kicked his legs back and fired every thruster system he could think of, trying to force the Gargoyle off balance. The boosters on his back finally granted him a reprieve when they opened up, sending Ichika forward and the SS screeching onto its back as the two crashed onto the pavement. The Gargoyle's arms swung apart on the landing, and Ichika wasted no time, kicking off the robot's chest and back into the air scant seconds before red beams spat onto it and turned the Gargoyle into a flaming wreck, the explosion shaking the air.

The _Byakushiki_ raced away, chased by errant beams for several more meters, near misses here and there glancing off the IS' defenses.

"Travis, how much shielding is left on this thing?" Ichika asked, a little frazzled. Then the numbers came up, and he added confusion to his anxiety.

**[EMITTER EFFICIENCY: 53%]**

"Wait a minute..."

When did he lose almost half of his shields?

**[Ichika, I know this isn't a good time to bring this up… but the **_**Byakushiki**_**… well… has a few issues, so to speak.]**

"You're telling me now! ?"

**[I didn't have time! Newbies usually at least acclimate first before they let themselves be chased by a wall of **_**fucking lasers**_**.] **

Ichika danced around another pair of shots, and the Hyper Sensor informed his vision that the Gargoyles were in pursuit along the streets, firing when they could.

"Well, what issues!"

**[Basically, your ride only has 60% working shields, maximum. Lots of complicated reasons.]**

"Are you telling me I'm flying with only half the shielding of any other IS!?"

**[Look, I'm sorry your first IS isn't Ideon and Gurren Lagann's fucking love child. You'll just have to deal with it.]**

Ichika took them high enough for Camilla to swoop in from behind in her _Uchigane Hana-B_. Her angered snarl was what alerted him, while he turned around fast enough to dodge one slash after another. He was more than ready to keep dodging, until he was caught off guard by the terrorist pivoting onto her side, and delivering a savage overhead kick. Ichika managed to bring this arms up in time to absorb the brunt of the impact against his head, but the blow was enough to send him tumbling back down to street level. Even when he flipped back to land on his feet, almost by an automatic reaction, he already had to dodge another salvo of beam weapons from the approaching Gargoyles. Ichika cursed and pushed the _Byakushiki_ away from them at all due speed, dodging awkwardly where he could as he skated down the dark streets.

_That girl's saving her energy and keeping me grounded so I fight all the SS first. Damn it, I can't even outrun a 2nd Generation Uchigane in this IS' current settings!_

"How much longer is it going to take to Shift!?"

**[Goddamn it, stop complaining! You're not making it exactly easy for me to register your biometrics! Your heart rate's throwing me off, your brain wave patterns keep spiking, and all the adrenaline you got in you makes charting your biochemistry-]**

"How long!?" Ichika asked again, irritated.

**[The system's ETAing five more minutes!]**

The _Byakushiki_ took a hard left, that had the ride lean practically into the street as its feet left sparks in its trail, and a clawed hand tore up the asphalt as it gripped it in the midst of the turn. Several more beams from behind slammed into the front of a department store, followed by a blossom of flame, smoke, and glass.

"We'll be_ dead_ in five minutes! Do you have any weapon available to me at all? Anything!"

It only took an instant for the HUD to spit out a schematic in the corner of his vision, along with some words.

**[EQUIPMENT: REIRAKU_BYAKUYA]**

The pilot didn't take a second longer to force his mind to imagine the shape of the weapon. He felt electric signals run down to his right hand, through the nerves and through the circuits, the tingling slowly becoming interpreted as the feeling of something being pressed into his palm.

_When you feel the sensation of pressure on the inside of your hand, grip firmly and withdraw the equipment from the IS' subspace. _

Ichika recited the steps to himself, and pulled on the invisible handle. By command, the simulated touch solidified as the blue claws pulled a weapon out of the _Byakushiki_'s pocket dimension. The grip materialized, and in a momentary flash of digital light, a solid blade followed. It was a solid gray, curving weapon that vaguely imitated the shape of Japan's historical katana, albeit sized for an IS, and with peculiar etchings and machined parts. A graceful curve marred by nonsensical gaps, hinges, slots and slides, and many other "high tech parts". This was the _Reiraku Byakuya._

As it was, Ichika was never big on artistry, and was only glad he had something to work with beyond his bare hands, even if it was a sword.

A sword against an enemy IS that had about a bazillion of its own by itself, and a near dozen Gargoyles with a pair of projectile weapons each. Eh.

The teenager, sadly, was not a professional pilot, given how he let himself get distracted for several precious seconds by this tangent. This was why he didn't see the Gargoyle burst from a narrow alley to his right, until too late. Much less its arm outstretched only a scant meter or two away from Ichika's head.

Quite simply, the Gargoyle clothes-lined the pilot rather savagely, with only the shields around Ichika's head keeping the bones of it or his neck from breaking, though the clanging noise that followed was both indescribably loud and painful, nonetheless.

At the speed he was moving, the blow sent Ichika inelegantly spinning through the air, his feet pitching over his head and back again for several revolutions before the _Byakushiki_ crashed onto to the ground.

The pilot didn't have mercy of being allowed a moment to clear his spinning vision and nausea when he felt the stumpy limbs of the Sub Stratos clamp down on his sides, hoisting him up from the ground. It was merely a prelude to the machine hurling him into the side of a department store close by, planting Ichika into pulverized cement by several inches. In the corner of his vision, he could see the HUD warn that his already meager shields had dropped to an even 50%.

In front of him, with only a distance of a few feet, the Gargoyle had raised both its arms to fire at Ichika point blank. The boy, by instinct raised the _Reiraku Byakuya _in front of him, imagining the sword would defend him. Even then, the logical parts of his mind were railing at this stupidity.

_What the hell's the point of a sword if they're just going to shoot me?_

The Gargoyle fired on Ichika and his sword. But rather than slam into the gray IS, the red beam ran into the air in front of the heavy steel blade, which flickered with an effect that looked like if one bumped a television screen, with a rainbow of grain and a rippling effect as the shot broke apart on the Reiraku's projection.

Ichika blinked at the second of reprieve he had. He didn't get another to register his surprise at the turn of events as the Gargoyle merely fired again, and forced his back into the wall of the building, digging himself in to "absorb" another shot as it broke up on the sword again and again. Finally the robot resorted to firing a constant beam, as if to force its way through the unexpected defense.

This time, the flickering responded to the red stream by outright reflecting the blast away, like a ray of sunlight bouncing off a mirror into the street a few meters away. Albeit in this case, this ray of red was half guided by Ichika's struggling to keep his sword upright against the force of the blast. As the _Reiraku Byakuya_ shivered, its reflected beam wildly burned across the pavement, up through the air, and finally landed squarely on the head of the Gargoyle it was firing from. The robot stumbled back as its sensor systems disintegrated, leaving behind a smoking hole, eventually tripping and crashing onto its back, and remaining immobile.

As Ichika dislodged himself, he could hear Travis' electronic humming in acknowledgment.

**[Ah, I was wondering what that was. That's a pretty slick piece of equipment there.]**

"What was that?"

**[The Reiraku has an energy-dissipating property to it. That sword's basically a shield, huh. Seems like the guys who were developing this IS at least tried to make up for the shitty shields on this thing.]**

"A what property? I got the idea with the beam, but..."

**[It'll take apart all energy. Beams, obviously. Good chance it'll make bullets feel like they're throwing grapes at your shield. I don't know about railguns, though, with that amount of kinetic energy. Oh, and left side incoming, buddy.]**

Ichika swerved the _Byakushiki _in time to feel a projectile snaked past and crash into his side, bringing his reading of his shield down several more digits. He grunted at the jarring and saw the Gargoyles behind him approach.

**[Alright, that was my fault. Keep that sword in front of you, the field only emits a few feet around the blade.]**

"I'll keep that in mind!" The pilot sarcastically ground out as he held the sword out in a ready stance, letting the shots break on the Reiraku with ease. As the SS approached, Ichika, quite tired of being on the run, felt one clear thought run through his mind.

_I'm taking this fight to them, now._

Face to face with his pursuers, a quick command ordered the _Byakushiki_ to boost forwards hurtling back towards the Gargoyles. The machines fired on the gray Infinite Stratos, unable to determine until too late that their attacks were now no threat to their opponent. By the time they figured it was a good time to change tactics, Ichika had already closed the distance on them.

As their arms were already raised, the Gargoyle in the front pulled back one arm and shot it back out in a fierce jab. Ichika jerked his head to the side, feeling the readouts of velocity narrowly pass him. In the same movement, the pilot was stepping forward and bringing the large metal blade down on the Gargoyle, half crushing, half cleaving through the upper torso of the robot where it got trapped in the shredded metal.

Ichika grimaced, intuitively disliking the sensation of the stroke. The _Reiraku Byakuya _felt..."blunt", somehow. In another analogy, however sharp it was, it still felt like he was crudely beating the SS to death with more of a scabbard than a sword...

The Gargoyles behind backed away several feet from the IS and its chopping block, gaining the distance needed to lay down their single minded wall of fire. Ichika gasped and managed to wrench his blade free as the scrapped robot in front of him began to glow yellow red and bubble over until it exploded in his face. The concussion slammed into his shields, throwing him back while the feet of the _Byakushiki_ screeched across the pavement, fighting to keep balance. As the IS slid to a halt, Ichika glared at the machines, feeling the ambient heat that warmed his face through the shielding.

**[Oi, stop wasting time with the small fry. You've got a bitch's clock to clean!]**

Ichika turned to look upward, following the prompting from the HUD. In the skies above, a reticule locked in on an unidentified IFF, belonging to a shape that was near invisible, more black adding to the black night sky.

_That IS pilot...I'm not going to let her hang back so casually...!_

After all, he had a sword in hand, now.

Ignoring the Gargoyles now, the _Byakushiki _lifted off once again, straight into the air. Ichika flung himself headlong at the dark shape of Camilla's _Uchigane Hana-B_. Unperturbed, the observing terrorist waited for him to approach. At the last minute, Ichika was roaring out as he slashed at the girl, but she was already pulling to the side, and swinging around behind the _Byakushiki_ as he charged past.

Ichika's eyes boggled for a second at his complete miss while he tried bringing his machine around to face Camilla. He made it only half way before the _Hana-B _slammed into him, swords scrapping along the shielding on his stomach and back as the black clad pilot pushed him through the air. The two pilots wrestled as they tried to control their flight path around the cityscape, locked together in a deadly embrace as they were.

As the two twirled about, Ichika could see the remote control arms on Camilla's Infinite Stratos swing outwards, swords raised to slash down atop him. Responding quickly, the boy shoved the terrorist away, throwing himself out of the spinning dance while he raised the _Reiraku Byakuya_ above his head, the flat of the sword screeching as Camilla's katana slid across its surface.

With a yell of effort, Ichika threw the offending katana off, sending Camilla reeling back unsteadily, while the PIC systems on the _Hana-B_ pushed back to keep her upright. Seeing the opportunity, Ichika flew forward, sword held low. The terrorist felt a flash of panic within her. Leaned back as she was, Camilla ordered the flanges on the front of the _Uchigane_'s skirt to swing out, manipulator arms hidden underneath lashing out with their own swords.

The _Byakushiki_ narrowly twisted out of the way and to the side, dodging the stabbing blade. With a cry from the pilot, it became a gray blur that dragged the _Reiraku_ across the side of the _Hana-B_'s armored skirt.

Camilla's mouth, visible from under her concealing Hyper Sensor, broke into an angered snarl as she saw the readings on her IS' shield begin to drop through the 90th percentage. She had actually been _struck_ by some...first timer...this..._boy._

"You impudent little...!"

Ichika heard the strangled curse behind him, and his Hyper Sensor picked up a half dozen flashes of silver headed for his back. This time, there was no chance to turn around, and Ichika was slammed with the full force of the terrorist's retaliation. Sensors screamed damage reports and impact force readings into his mind as he fell out of the air towards a colored glass roof that was raised at an angle above a sleek, sinuously curving building. In the next instant, Ichika could feel the shields flare up to protect him as he slammed through the tinted glass, throwing shards everywhere, and then snapping apart the white steel supporting rods underneath, and the mess as a whole crashed to the ground. While glass and steel pounded the wood paneled floor, and the IS totally crushed it under the force of its landing, where it continued to slide, tearing up more flooring, and breaking apart helpless lawn chairs and parasols until the whole machine tumbled over an edge with a splash.

Ichika emerged from the murky water, soaked to the bone, while his IS was shamelessly waterproof. The metal taste of chlorine in his mouth and nostrils as he sputtered out water made it fairly obvious where he was, while he looked around surveying the wreckage he had left behind. The fight had just landed him on top of a fancy hotel, complete with an outdoor swimming pool, bar, the works. He supposed there would have been fancy LED lighting decorating the place, but there was only emergency lighting casting the empty pool area in the usual ugly yellow light.

The _Byakushiki_ currently was wading in the deep end of the swimming pool. Given the height of the machine, though, the lukewarm water only reached up to the pilot's mechanical shins as he stood his IS back up.

"Shield Check..." Ichika coughed, while swearing under his breath about the water he was in.

**[EMITTER EFFICENCY: 21%. Yeah, wow. The bitch has a hell of a slap. Can you not hit like that again, partner?]** Travis' "voice" interjected right after the automated report.

"Swords, the great stressor." Travis' partner muttered.

**[On the other hand, 21 is three sevens. Ready for some good news?]**

"Good News" suddenly brought hope to Ichika, as he remembered what he had been gambling on for some agonizingly long minutes as the key to his survival tonight.

"You don't mean-"

The HUD interrupted him again, confirming.

**[BIOMETRICS REGISTERED. SWITCH "ICHIKA.O" USER STATUS "PROVISIONARY" TO "PERMITTED"? Y/N.]**

"Finally!"

**[Think 'Yes'! Think Yes right now, damnit! Yes! YES-Oh Crap, NO! Nine 'o' Clock!]**

Ichika twisted to his left at Travis' cry, and saw the _Uchigane Hana-B_ diving under the roof of the hotel and charging straight towards him, Camilla's visible mouth stretched in a single, unamused line showing nothing but determination to take him down. For that vital moment, the one word Ichika should have been thinking of was pushed out by the sudden need to defend himself again. By instinct, the fresh pilot braced his feet in the water, raised his sword, both hands on the grip, and pointed it straight at the oncoming terrorist in a defensive posture. Camilla had been expecting this, and in the same moment she was about to run into the _Reiraku Byakuka_, the front two manipulator arms snapped open, pincer hands stretching out before her, and precisely grabbing onto the wrists of Ichika's outstretched blue claws. As she pushed on, the arms pushed to the sides. The teenage boy watched in horror as his sword and his arms were wrenched in opposite directions, exposing his chest to the pair of heavy metal feet that Camilla raised up to slam into it.

Ichika saw his world wobble in excruciating pain as he was hurled off his feet and down into the side of the pool, throwing up water everywhere, while his shoulder blades crushed the expensive porcelain tiled edge. The blow in any other case would have pulverized any man's spine, but Ichika had the extraordinary good-bad luck to merely be in an IS, meaning the shields saved his life, while he gasped, winded. Likewise, the IS had saved his chest from being caved in, but had been also busy dulling the pain of the wounds on his chest he had earlier received. They had been incensed by the brutal flying kick, nerves flashing a reminder across Ichika's chest that he would have preferred not to be receiving now.

The boy sucked in air as much as he could, trying to keep breathing normally as he felt Travis' presence trying to command the _Byakushiki_'s routines to moderate the sense of pain. Distracted as he was, Ichika couldn't react in time to the arms mounted on the _Hana-B_'s skirt extending into the water and wrapping its pincers around the gray IS' ankles.

Before he knew it, Ichika watched as his four mechanized limbs were spread apart, and his body slowly hauled upward until he was suspended, dripping, above the water by the four thin arms belonging to the deep black IS that hovered over the pool's surface, the girl inside frowning from under her visor, arms folded. Ichika struggled for a moment, trying to test the strength of the artificial hands holding him, and found them unmoving.

He felt very helpless.

"I want to know why you're still resisting." Camilla growled.

Ichika was almost beside himself with disbelief, as he shouted back, "Are you kidding? You're trying to kill me!"

"I don't want to, but you're the one flying around in that IS. I just want is the _Byakushiki_."

**[What are you waiting around for!? You have to think 'Yes' for the Shift to occur!]**

Camilla kept talking, keeping Ichika's attention on her, "You took the IS away from the convention center to protect the Chinese pilot and the others, right? Then you've already done more than you needed to. Why are you still flying around?"

"It's called self defense", Ichika retorted, glaring.

"Self defense against what? Everything you've done since is a result of stubbornness possessiveness over this machine. Or are you fighting simply because you enjoy this power?"

"I'm not doing this because I like it!"

**[Please don't tell me you're actually listening to her.]**

An indignant part of the boy was insisting he wasn't.

"Then get out of the _Byakushiki_ and give it to me. Are you an IS pilot? Is this _your _IS? Who are you protecting this IS for? You had ample opportunity to abandon it once you took it away from the civilians. But here you are, making things more complicated for yourself because you insist on continuing to fight for no reason, _forcing_ me to stay here. Did you consider that your continued resistance is threatening this city?"

"I..." Ichika found himself trying to find an answer. The situation had been out of his control all night, merely his reacting to external circumstances. Find an IS, get nearly killed, get in to survive, protect Rin and the others, run from the terrorist, distract the Gargoyles...and then...well...

Now that he had time to pause, Ichika hadn't thought about where he was going with all of this.

**[You don't have to! She's just fucking with you! Come on! Accept the Shift command!]**

"The Infinite Stratos is terrible, isn't it?" He thought he heard Camilla sigh, "I hate using them myself. The moment you step into one, you become flooded with power you don't deserve. Because you have the ability to accomplish anything, you act like all your actions are automatically justified. I don't know how you're piloting this machine, but that's no reason for a civilian to get involved here, trying to be some 'lone hero'. Just because you're lucky doesn't mean you or your actions are in any way more special. I'm giving you a chance to stop this nonsense for both of us. You have my word: exit the IS, I'll leave with it, and that will be that. You've done enough."

"Otherwise...what?"

"Otherwise," The black clad girl clarified, "I'll have to take you with me, and some of my associatesknow _ways _to extract you from the machine. I don't want to make this anymore complicated than it is already. Don't be a fool, Orimura Ichika. There's nothing to gain by being obstinate."

"It seems I keep meeting people who already know who I am..." Ichika mumbled under his breath.

"Everybody knows who the Orimuras are." Came the clipped reply, "Now, tell me: will you relent and spare both of us further, needless trouble, or do you still have it in your head that you're actually accomplishing something?"

Ichika was maddeningly silent. He let his head loll forward, as if he had been overwhelmed.

**[...Cowboy...c'mon...]**

"'Everybody knows who the Orimuras are', huh..." Came the murmur, before the boy's head lunged up again, glaring furiously at his captor. His limbs starting pulling against their bonds. "Then you already know my answer! You're the one who attacked the building and Rin in the first place, thinking to steal the _Byakushiki_ and now you think you can just ask nicely for it! ? If you know who the Orimuras are, then you know the last thing I'll do is roll over for a terrorist! I won't let you threaten me, my friends, or even this IS!"

Camilla's lips shriveled, angrily baring teeth.

"So, that's how you're going to be, then? A fool who always rushes headlong into things he doesn't even comprehend...!" She spat, one free hand reached for her waist and she pulled a katana free from subspace to jam into Ichika's restrained body.

Orimura Ichika looked straight at her, through her beaked helmet.

"Yes."

_Yes._

**[COMMAND ACCEPTED. SHIFTING ACCESS.]**

Just as Camilla moved to strike down the pilot, the _Byakushiki_'s frame burst into a furious white light, forcing her to reel back and cover her face for a second. In the same moment her guard came done, she felt her manipulators' grip on Ichika being wrenched free, and a closed fist slamming into her ribs. The terrorist choked back the air that was trying to escape her lungs while she was flung to the opposite end of the pool, water kicking up as the feet of the _Uchigane Hana-B_ skittered across the surface. As she stopped, she looked at the Infinite Stratos before her and realized what she just witnessed.

"You idiot! You have no idea how many enemies you've just made!"

The _Byakushiki_ had traded the dull gray sheen for a lustrous white, as if only now it had come alive. Gold accents joined the brighter blue highlights. The armor had expanded from its minimal coverage, covering Ichika's torso completely in layers of smooth steel. The arms and legs had bulked out. The stumpy pods that had been floating to either side behind his back had turned into two machine wings that were nearly as tall as the _Byakushiki _was, which tapered into blunted points like giant blades. The Hyper Sensor had changed from the circlet that had wrapped around the boy's head to a set of coverings that were securely attached to the sides of his head, over his ears, and extended onwards in both directions direction, running down the line of his jaws like some brace, and past his head as sharp antennae-like ears.

The _Byakushiki_ was finally unleashed. Its pilot within stared flatly at Camilla.

"That's fine. It'll save me the trouble of counting."

The terrorist responded with a cry of anger and charged back across the pool, all the arms on the _Uchigane Hana-B_ swinging out and brandishing all the swords she could carry. Ichika responded likewise, throwing himself at his opponent, his arm on the _Reiraku Byakuya_ pulled back in anticipation of attacking.

In the next moment they were about to strike each other, neither caught what happened. For Camilla, though, who was facing Ichika, she caught a glimpse of the wings on the back of the _Byakushiki _ opening up, and the sword in his hands beginning to split...

The moment came and left in a white flash, leaving the _Byakushiki_ halting on the other end of the pool, and Camilla careening off to the side and crashing into the outdoor bar, tripping over the smashed counter.

Ichika blinked, as his brain finally caught up with the fact he had already attacked, signaled by the noise of his wings whining to a halt and closing. He spun around to see the terrorist's crash site.

"What just..."

**[You just laid hands on that motherfucker! Kick ass!]**

He looked down at the sword in his hands. The grip of the _Reiraku Byakuya_ was still there, but the blade has transformed, split in two and telescopically collapsed towards the front and back. Instead, emitting from the two prongs was a thin blade that seemed to be made of white and blue light, straight and wispy where the _Reiraku_'s original blade was curving heavy metal.

"This is a...sword?" It was bright, sure, but it wasn't exactly much to look at, considering the cutlery shop he had been menaced with this past night.

In response, the HUD showed a new list in his vision.

**[EQUIPMENT: YUKIHIRA_TYPE2]**

**[EQUIPMENT: IGNITION_BOOSTER]**

**[EQUIPMENT: %#&%u $. ALERT: REGISTRY ERROR.]**

"Yukihira?" Ichika's eyes widened in recognition as he looked at the sword again, "That's what my sister...how are there two different...?"

**[Look, I don't know what you're mumbling about, but holy crap we have a beam saber. That's hardcore.]**

There was a sound of shuffling metal, and Ichika's musings (and Travis' helpful commentary) were cut short as he turned to look at the collapsed bar. Camilla emerged, shoving aside a pillar and some fragmented remains of a raised ceiling before getting back to her feet. She was about to say something until she noticed the condition of the katana in her right hand. Her blade, too had been transformed into the grip, the guard, and about a few inches of edge before it terminated in melted steel, the rest of it having disappeared when the _Yukihira_ had cut straight through. With a growing horror, she turned to look at the manipulators on the same side and found that Ichika's same stroke had unevenly pruned them, the closest missing everything up to the elbow, same as the one mounted on the _Hana-B_'s skirt, the next bereft of its pincer hand, and the one in the very back mostly untouched, save for missing half of the sword it was still carrying.

Camilla stared at the red hot rims of her shorn IS limbs, then at Ichika, holding his unassumingly narrow sword.

She kicked off the ground, sending the _Uchigane Hana-B_ into the air, away from Ichika.

**[Hey! She's getting away!]** Travis shouted in Ichika's mind. He could almost imagine its virtual avatar punching an indignant finger at the escaping black figure.

"She's getting away from me, though. Doesn't that mean I've beaten her?"

**[What the f...the **_**fuck**_** are you talking about? "Beat"? She's a professional! Does she look like she gives up from a cut like that? She's just backing away to work out a new strategy to get around the **_**Yukihira**_**! You have to capitalize!]**

"Are you sure?"

**[This isn't an honor duel, partner! She's still got the remote control to a bunch of SS out there, remember?]**

That little detail sent Ichika after the escaping _Uchigane_.

As the _Byakushiki _raced around the high rises of Yokohama again, chasing after the IFF signal Ichika kept in his sight. He could feel the IS accelerating faster than ever, no longer restricting him with "provisionary" standards. In a matter of seconds, and another corner, he could see Camilla's back as she rushed to clear the inner city and make her way to the dark highways at the outskirts of the area. Given how the buildings were thinning out around them, she wasn't too far from escaping to open air, either.

"HEY!" Ichika shouted as hard as he could at the distant escaping figure. She tilted her head slightly, in a sign that she had seen him through her hyper sensor, and straightened out her posture, forcing as much speed as she could out of the _Hana-B_. His eyes narrowed, boring intensity into the terrorist.

_I have to get to her, now._

Ichika didn't realize the sort of response this thought had until he saw behind him. The wings of the _Byakushiki_ opened up again, their solid shapes splitting into so many segments. From in between the newly exposed gaps and grooves, thruster nozzles poked out, already beginning to heat up with a growing high pitched noise.

Years of TV and film allowed the knowledgeable pilot to recognize the noise as the quintessential "go fast" cue, and remember the name pop culture had attached to the noise making prop.

"Wait, this IS has afterburners!?"

**[Ignition Booster. Whee.]**

The tips of the _Byakushiki_'s wings exploded into a trail of blue flame, and the IS was off, rocketing towards the black IS. As the shields kept the wind from tearing off his face, a part of him wondered how much of it was responsible for keeping his tongue in his mouth, or beyond that, his head outside his ribcage at all.

Camilla heard air exploding behind her. The HUD screamed at her that something like a missile was coming straight for her, though she didn't need to guess what it was. Unable to outrun Orimura, she swore loudly and spun her IS around to fly backwards, trying to muster the remaining limbs to shield her in time as she held her one katana with both hands.

Ichika was giving a war cry befitting an amateur as he fell upon her in an instant, slashing out at Camilla. This time, he saw the blade of the _Yukihira_ broadening and lengthening, stretching several more vital feet until he tore off several more arms off the _Hana-B_ right before the Ignition Booster pushed him past his opponent. Right towards the glass side of an office complex.

"Agh-! Turnturnturnturnturn-!"

The Booster didn't do anything in time to prevent Ichika from haplessly punching through another glass wall, sending shards every which way as he went belly sliding across cheap rug flooring, yelling and screaming the whole way as he crashed through rows of desks, sending plywood, lamps, phones, and computers every which way. Several more surviving desks were shoved about, slamming one into another in an outward wave as Ichika managed to embarrassingly claw the _Byakushiki_ into a halt with his free hand. He could hear Travis' slightly apologetic voice as he stood up in the corporate crater he left.

**[Sorry, cowboy, but these are boosters, not verniers. You're not gonna turn on a dime while they're on.]**

"There's always a catch." Ichika groaned, more out of the pain of the humiliation than anything. Without any current need, the Ignition Booster in the wings retracted the segmented wings back together. Ichika looked at the _Yukihira_, curious at how much larger the beam had become. Like the _Byakushiki_'s wings, with no dire intent feeding it, the sword dimmed and narrowed back to its somewhat meager shape. As it did, the boy realized that the Emitter Efficiency gauge started rising from the 15% to 19%, power feeding from the saber back into the Infinite Stratos.

"Huh."

_The Yukihira's blade can increase, but its proportional to an amount of shield it takes to bulk up. It's an absolutely offensive weapon._

**[I have logs of the '**_**shiki**_**'s shield condition. Even having the **_**Yukihira **_**active as is takes more power. I think we're good here, but try to keep that in mind if you want to go swinging the beam saber nilly willy.]**

"Alright, noted." Ichika answered, before taking one last look at his diminished shield readings.

_Going all out might be my only option left, though. I won't last like this. I have to make this last attack count, finish this once and for all._

The teenager gave one final deep breath, steeling himself before flying out of the shattered hole. Back into the air, Ichika quickly scanned the distance, and reacquired Camilla, once again in the distance, still racing for the freeway.

With _Byakushiki _and the _Uchigane Hana-B _perfectly lined up on a trajectory, the Ignition Booster opened up one more time, sending the white IS charging right for its badly battered enemy. Ichika lowered himself till he flew above the dark raised overpass, skimming raised road signs and the few odd assorted vehicles that dotted the four lane road that had still been driving at this time of night. Their headlights showed them precariously moving forward, trying to maneuver on the blackened roads.

"Crap, there's people here! They're gonna get caught up!" Ichika realized.

_Have to get her now, before her Gargoyles show up and turn this place into a shooting range. Crap, why did there have to people here..._

Up ahead, he could see Camilla hovering above the freeway. The mechanical limbs above each of her shoulders now flopped uselessly, lacking any way to hold _Hana-B_'s swords or even fold away properly. All that was left was the one blade in her hands, held traditionally, her feet spread out in the air in a stable stance. She was facing the oncoming _Byakushiki_ missile head on, no longer running.

Ichika could almost believe she had a sense of honor in her, until he remembered the Gargoyles she was doubtlessly doing everything in her power to wait for.

Tightening the _Yukihira_'s grip in his left hand for the ensuing power thrust, Ichika charged in, roaring.

"It's **over!**"

Camilla didn't bother justifying that response, because it was.

The last few meters of road between the two machines bubbled, asphalt transforming into a searing red and yellow pool before scarlet beams burst upwards, slamming into the _Byakushiki_'s unguarded underside.

Ichika's eyes widened in shock in the small eternity after the attack as he realized he had been fooled the entire time. The same eternity helpfully reminded him that the particle weapons had robbed his IS of the last of his available shields.

**[EMITTER EFFICIENCY: 0%. USER THREATENED. REROUTING NONVITAL POWER TO AUXILLERY EMITTER. SOS TRANSPONDER ACTIVE.]**

The _Byakushiki_'s joints froze up as its pilot felt the presence of a second shield bubble up over his frame. Which was both a good and a bad thing, considering he was about to make this third sliding crash of the night. Ichika felt his chest take the impact as he limply dove past Camilla, and into the pavement, while he sent a generous amount of sparks behind him.

As he came to a halt, Ichika craned his neck up from his paralyzed position and could see headlights in the distance swerving to the side and halting a distance from him. Between them, he could see the red rims of Gargoyle sensors grow more distinct, while the noise of their ball wheels grew.

"Ugh."

**[Yeah. This is why Absolute Defense was never a good idea.]**

A black chrome hand reached under one of the shoulders of the frozen _Byakushiki_ and pulled up, flipping Ichika onto his back. There, he could see Camilla looming over him, mouth in a firm line as ever, sword in one hand. All around, he could see Gargoyles approach from either end. For the number that he and Rin must have destroyed, it seemed there were still close to a dozen left, all closing in a circle from around the raised freeway road.

"This _stupid _thing..." Camilla spat as she reached down for the _Yukihira_ in the boy's hand, now nothing more than a pair of prongs on a handle.

"No!" Ichika shouted, struggling as he could within the confines of his locked down IS. The armor that had instilled such new confidence in him during the Shift now as a straight jacket keeping him from barely wiggling his chest as Camilla wrenched the sword from his hand. Taking one nasty look at it, she threw it over her shoulder.

Ichika could only glare now at the leader of the Gargoyles around him, while she put a pair of fingers to the side of her helmet.

"Boomerang 5-8, this is Camilla, requesting pick up on current location. Do you copy?"

_"Camilla, this is Boomerang 5-8, good copy. Location fixed. Pick up will be on site in five mikes."_

"Five mikes, copy. Camilla, over and out." Camilla dropped her communication to look back down on Ichika, almost sneering, if she wasn't sounding so angered.

"Do you get it now, Orimura? You had no chance to "win" this. I gave you the chance to walk away, but now your locked in. They're going to _cut_ you out of the _Byakushiki_."

Ichika tried to keep calm amidst the threat. Travis talked all the while.

**[Alright, shit's no good right now, but we still have one more card to play. I can deactivate the Absolute Defense, and we can move normally again. Catch is that you'll be flying with NO SHIELDS at all. Physics WILL kill you. First opportunity we get, we FLY the fuck away as fast as we can...]**

"You have no one left to blame but yourself, now-"

Camilla was interrupted with a resounding metal 'clang', when one of the Gargoyles in the back gained a massive pothole where its head was, followed by its torso erupting into a ball of fire. Camilla backed away, shocked, before bringing her sword up, looking around furiously for a second or two around the freeway for the source of the attack. Her Hyper Sensor quickly picked up the origin of the attack, and located an IFF high above.

Camilla looked up, and fought to keep her jaw from dropping.

Ichika, who was on his back, and already looking up, did the next best thing and gasped at the glowing figure.

Descending from the sky was a sleek figure, fully concealed in silver armor, up to the head, which the captive pilot realized he recognized. With the blunt legs closed together, and a clawed hand on its hip, it conveyed a sense of almost arrogant confidence. Its ease was reinforced by the impressive units that were attached to a large mechanical unit on its back. Seemingly made of a disarray of interwoven trails of light that managed to order itself into a pair brilliantly glowing wings that carried the immaculate figure as though it were divine.

_"Yo, Ichika! I think now's a good time for the Silver Ranger's debut, huh?"_ A woman's voice called out from within the newly-arrived Infinite Stratos.

"Fairs...!"

Ichika couldn't do much than speak in shock. Camilla merely kept a firm gaze up.

"The _Silver Gospel_."

Natasha Fairs, hovering in the sky above, chided, "So you're the one causing all the trouble here. Just to bother a gentleman like Ichika! I think I'll have to lay you out!"

Camilla was already darting one hand to a glowing holographic control panel on her arm. Instantly every remaining Gargoyle was pointing their arms upward, spitting frenzied particle fire up at the silver IS. Natasha almost pirouetted around the volley, glowing wings swinging around her as she dodged about the shots. In momentary lull between shots, Ichika's rescuer angled her _Silver Gospel_ downwards at the force below.

"You've got a long way to go if you think a few SS is considered "firepower" compared to me-!"

Natasha made her point as she threw her arms out. In response, the heavy wings to either side split apart, turning from two thick appendages to a spreading, multi-sectioned array of glowing, wing-like images. In moments, the segments began spitting out glowing darts, spiraling and whizzing through the air.

Camilla had a moment to scream before the she and the Gargoyles around her were impaled by Natasha's rain of technological arrows with precision work, each SS rattling as they were staked multiple times, without even one silver blade touching the ground around them.

Ichika's world rattled as the Gargoyles around him exploded in concert, Camilla herself disappearing in the flames that surrounded her.

Amidst the raging pyres, the armored _Silver Gospel _ dropped to the battered freeway, her array of wings wrapping into two again.

"Ichika, are you alright! ? Answer if you can hear me!"

"I'm right here-"

In the plumes of smoke above where Ichika lay, he saw one billowing pillar explode as Camilla burst up into the sky, panting, _Uchigane_ battered more than ever.

"This is ridiculous...!"

The terrorist didn't spare any more time to say anything else, before racing up into the night sky.

"Fairs! She's getting away!"

"Ah, she's not as important." Natasha waved the escape off as she walked over. Her helmet disassembled as she approached, revealing her face and letting her blonde hair spill out and letting her breathe again. "I'm here to make sure you're safe."

Ichika wished he could give a pointed stare to Travis. He seemed to have gotten the message, regardless.

**[Hey, what she does and what I'd do are totally different. If I were in her shoes, I'd have been prepared to scour the earth for that bitch. If she were in Indochina, I'd be right there, hiding in a bowl of rice, ready to pop a cap in her ass. Oh, and OVERRIDE POWER REROUTE. OVERRIDE SOS TRANSPONDER.]**

The teenager finally relief as the joints in his IS came loose again.

"Lingyin wasn't lying. You...you're actually using an IS", Natasha said, in equal parts surprise and amazement as she watched Ichika rise to his feet.

"Rin told you?"

"It's how I found you. Lingyin told me what direction you headed out in as soon as I found her-"

_**"NATASHAAA!"**_

Natasha shrugged cheekily at a familiar voice, "Speaking of which..."

Ichika watched the _Shenlong_ blitz out of the Yokohama cityscape to land near the other two machines, Huang Lingyin almost red with fury.

"What sort of teammate are you!? What part of a rescue includes **leaving me behind!?"**

Natasha had to good nature to look appalled, "I didn't leave you behind! I was employing a staggered assault formation!"

"'Staggered assault' my ass! You totally ditched me! I was supposed to save Ichika!" Rin complained, pointing a finger at the older American.

"Of course. You, your _Shenlong_, and the percentage of shields I could count on one hand." Natasha smirked.

"I'll kill you!"

"Rin, please!" Ichika was amazed how he didn't get a headache until _now, _"Are you alright? What about the convention center? Is everyone alright?"

"I-I'm alright!" The Chinese girl uncharacteristically squeaked at Ichika's questioning, before regaining her composure, "I mean, we're all fine. You basically made every SS chase you when you left. Everybody managed to get out! We're all good!"

Ichika sighed in relief. Natasha nodded.

"I don't know how you did it, but you did great, Ichika."

"That's...good to know."

Amidst the burning fire, Ichika was somehow still alive and safe, and that was enough. After all the crazed fighting and chasing, he wasn't sure what else he needed.

**[Hey, good news, buddy. I just got the results of your biometric readings. I count a Y-Chromosome. So congrats, you really are a guy inside an IS. Unless you're an XY Female, but that gets into really complicated territory I haven't researched yet...]**

"...Travis...one day I'm going to figure out how to kill you." Ichika grumbled under his breath.

**[Ha ha! You're a riot, cowboy. You're a lot more fun than my last pilot.]**

_Last pilot?_

The _Byakushiki_'s pilot would have asked, were it not for a combination of sudden exhaustion, and something burning in his veins finally flushing out, leaving a dreaded growing sensation in his guts. Ichika took a deep breath, before speaking to the two girls rather candidly.

"Well, this was a horrible night. I think I'll puke my guts out now, and pass out."

Natasha laughed. "The first fight's always the hardest, yeah?"

Rin visibly recoiled. "Ew! Well don't do it in front of us! Get behind a car or something before you do that!"

"...Right", was all Ichika could say, before he forced himself to stagger away.

* * *

A/N: Sorry guys. It's been crazy for a while, plus writing this chapter wasn't easy. Let's see if chapter 4 can be done on better time.

I thought hard about some designs of the setting. Obviously I couldn't drop a whole paragraph in a middle of a fight scene about technology, so I'll drop the concept about shields here.

The original novels, of course, tabulates shields as points. That's useful for a combat sport setting, no doubt. There, there's enough admin and umpires to define shield strength as what may be an arbitrary number. It's not so useful when you're in a combat situation and you need something easier to read in an instant. In this AU, emitters are built into the outer layer of an IS. Think of them as the equivalent of electrical fuses. Normally they're passively engaged to save power, but when a life threatening object invades an IS' personal space, say, a bullet, or the floor suddenly rearing up to attack you, the emitter system will momentarily "flare" intensely to repel this object, and will use more energy as required, depending on the strength of the invading object. Hence, "efficiency". Every time the emitter is forced to make a demand, whether by intensity or consistency, the emitters will start burning out, starting from a 100% efficiency ("I will certainly stop this") to 0% ("I'm sorry Dave..."). Of course, due to IS wizardry, I assume these emitters will magically restore themselves while in Stand By via some science that only Tabane would no doubt understand.

The _Byakushiki_ is unique in this case, due to it only having 60% efficiency at any given time. The issue is because of the Yukihira that's been installed onto it. Being an advanced prototype weapon, it has excessive power demands, meaning the IS has been tuned to route power meant for the shields into the Yukihira just to keep it going. So it's not a matter of the strength of the physical emitters so much as the power its receiving is below optimal.

I bet the techies who were in charge of the _'shiki_ was like, "Oh, this IS isn't intended for combat anyways, taking a little bit of power from the shielding won't be a big deal". Ha ha.

Anyways, thinking of Yo's review. Actual criticism. Very surprising I'd get one, but that only shows a failing on my part. An author's ego on this website is like overripe fruit: larger than necessary and easily bruised. Anyways, Yo's points are valid, I suppose. I wish I could provide some promise, some justification, some excuse that the story may be better than so far, but plot is plot. I can only apologize for the narrative not meeting your expectations. I doubt my projected narrative will ever leave "easy-mode" as you say, so don't force yourself to keep reading and waiting to like something you won't.

I'll also have to give note to the sheer amount of post update support I've received, for a story that dropped off the front page. That's kinda surprising, but also what kept me going. Can't stop a story when so many people actually want to see more. Thank you.


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